\^^^ 
 
' ~~^ SocCetfi 
 
 OF 
 
 XWQUZRT ON nnssioivs 
 
 AND 
 
 THE STATE OF RELIGION, 
 
 I 
 
 OP THE 
 
 Theological Seminary, 
 
 PRINCETON, N. J. 
 
 
 11- 
 
 ^^ Ward I 
 
"^^ JtB,iI-crSMln 
 
 ^m^ wiljliiam wairb. 
 
 Died MairclL 7,1823. Aged. 53 = 
 
 a^T^ 
 
MEMOIRS 
 
 OF 
 
 THE LIFE 
 
 OF THE / / 
 
 REV. WILLIAM WARD 
 
 Late Baptist Missionary in India; 
 
 CONTAINING 
 
 A FEW OF HIS EARLY POETICAL PRODUCTIONS, 
 
 AND 
 
 ^ MoxioXs^ to 8i0 iHemorp. 
 
 SAMUEL STENNETT, 
 
 A good man, and full of the Holy Ghost. Acts xi. 24. 
 Multis ille bonis flebilis, occidit. Horace. 
 
 LONDON ! 
 
 Printed by J. Haddon, Castle Street, Finsbury. 
 
 SOLD BY SIMPKIN AND MARSHALL, STATIONER'S-COURT, 
 
 AND HOLDSWORTH, ST. PAUL's CHURCH-YARD. 
 
 1825. 
 
TO THE 
 
 BAPTIST MISSIONARY SOCIETY, 
 
 AND THE 
 FRIENDS AND SUPPORTERS OF MISSIONS 
 
 IN GENERAL, 
 
 OF A MAN WHO WAS 
 THE ZEALOUS AGENT OF ONE SOCIETY, 
 
 AND THE 
 
 SINCERE WELL WISHER TO ALL^ 
 
 Is respectfully^ inscribed 
 
 BY THE AUTHOR. 
 
PREFACE 
 
 The life of so good and useful a man 
 as William Ward of Serampore, needs no- 
 thing to recommend it to the perusal of 
 all who love christian excellence; it 
 may be necessary, however, to say some- 
 thing on the reasons, which have in- 
 duced the writer of the following Me- 
 moirs to become his biographer. Some 
 of these are briefly noticed in the printed 
 prospectus of the work; as, the author's 
 early association with him in his mis- 
 sionary work, and their long cherished 
 friendship, which death only could ter- 
 minate, and the renewal of which con- 
 stitutes one of the dearest hopes in 
 
VI PREFACE. 
 
 the perspective of a brighter and better 
 world. This intimacy naturally fur- 
 nished some means of information, pos- 
 sessed by no other writer who has en- 
 gaged in this service, while, with regard 
 to many things recorded in these pages, 
 the author bears the testimony of an 
 eye-witness to the facts he relates 
 Through the kindness of several friends, 
 to whom he feels gratified in thus ten- 
 dering his thanks, he was favoured with 
 a few circumstances not yet made public, 
 and a number of original letters, with 
 free permission to make what use of 
 them he thought proper — a discretionary 
 power, which he hopes it will be found, 
 that he has not abused. 
 
 Notwithstanding these claims to atten,- 
 tion, he had yet no design of intruding on 
 the public no tice,for some months after the 
 tidings of the death of his much lamented 
 friend reached this country ; he natur- 
 ally expected a much more complete 
 
PREFACE. Vll 
 
 memoir from the associates of his later 
 years, who might be possessed, through 
 his private papers, of many interesting 
 materials, and looked earnestly for the 
 annmiciation of some publication of this 
 kind in the principal religious publications 
 of the day. But when a considerable 
 time had elapsed, and nothing had made 
 its appearance, except a short supplement 
 to a sermon, or a leading article in some 
 of the Magazines, he thought himself 
 called upon, both by the claims of friend- 
 ship and his duty to the community, to 
 attempt something more satisfactory. 
 How far he has succeeded is not for him- 
 self to determine ; the public will give 
 a more just award ; if, however, these 
 pages shall have the effect of making 
 his friend's character more known, and 
 kindling in the minds of any a similar 
 spirit, he will never have cause to regret 
 the trouble he has taken, and the labour 
 he has bestowed. 
 
Vlll PREFACE. 
 
 The paucity of events, incident to 
 the life of a christian missionary, may 
 not perhaps excite that interest, which 
 the lives of many less useful men may 
 command ; but for those who feel deeply 
 the state of an idolatrous world, and 
 watch with anxiety the progress of Di- 
 vine power and truth enlightening and 
 saving it, the modest, unassuming labours 
 of such a man as Ward, will possess 
 attractions far superior to the lives of the 
 most celebrated among men. They will 
 delight to see the workings of a mind so 
 imbued with the sacred spirit of charity, 
 as to abandon all the prospects of this 
 world for the glorious design of blessing a 
 nation of heathens; to trace the opera- 
 tions of a zeal and love of the Saviour 
 so ardent, as to induce the sacrifice 
 of all that is most cherished by man, his 
 country, his home and his friends, among 
 whom religion flourishes and spreads its 
 benign influence over the heart and the 
 
PREFACE. IX 
 
 manners, to enter on a vast moral wil- 
 derness, where spiritual desolation pre- 
 vails, and a horrid superstition has 
 blighted every fine feeling of the soul, 
 and given a rank and luxuriant growth 
 to every vice which can degrade and 
 disgrace the character. Such persons 
 will require no apology for the frequent 
 and large quotations from original letters 
 in the following pages ; if any be ne- 
 cessary, the author will frankly confess, 
 that he judged nothing that he could 
 say, would so faithfully pourtray the 
 character of his departed friend, as 
 the productions of his own pen, the 
 overflowings of his own heart. 
 
 The writer is persuaded, that the 
 few poetical effusions, which he has an- 
 nexed, will gratify the feelings of Mr. 
 Ward's friends ; they are most of them 
 unknown except to a very few indivi- 
 duals of his early acquaintance, and they 
 will thus, it is trusted, be rescued for a 
 
X PREFACE. 
 
 while from that oblivion to which they 
 had so long been consigned. The Mo- 
 nody, that follows, has perhaps little to 
 recommend it but the name to which 
 it is inscribed; if any, however, object 
 to it, they may excuse the feelings of 
 friendship, and that vanity, if it may be 
 so called, which wishes to be associated 
 in the memorial of so much excellence. 
 Something probably should be added, 
 to account for the delay, which has oc- 
 curred since the first publication of the 
 prospectus of this work; to this several 
 circumstances have contributed. A 
 little time was necessarily occupied in 
 searching for information, and in the 
 transmission of letters and other mate- 
 rials for the work ; in addition to which, 
 the author is so much engaged in his 
 professional and pastoral duties, and the 
 cares of an increasing family, that his 
 moments of leisure are few, and his mind 
 frequently so much distracted, that the 
 
PREFACE. XI 
 
 progress of composition is with him 
 very slow. On this latter acount alone 
 he has to deprecate the severity of cri- 
 ticism, and while he invites the correc- 
 tion of any errors, that may have es- 
 caped him, to commend to the indul- 
 gence of the candid and liberal mind a 
 work, the main object of which is, he 
 hopes, the glory of God and the welfare 
 of immortal souls. To that God, above 
 all, he desires to commit it, imploring 
 his blessing, without which, no human 
 effort, how well soever designed and 
 executed, can prosper. 
 
MEMOIRS, 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Introductory Reflections— Some par ticulars of Mr. 
 Ward's life until the time of his making a religious 
 profession by baptism. 
 
 In an age of missionary exertions, 
 when all the energies of Christian be- 
 nevolence are directed to the advance- 
 ment of the Redeemer's kingdom in the 
 nations of the earth, it is natural, that 
 every thing relating to a missionary 
 should be interesting. An almost in- 
 voluntary admiration bursts from our 
 hearts, v^hile v^e contemplate that dis- 
 interested love to man, v^hich could 
 
 B 
 
^ MEMOIRS OF 
 
 choose a life so distinguished by priva- 
 tions, that heroic courage, which could 
 venture on a course so encompassed with 
 dangers, and that unwearied persever- 
 ance, which could press forward through 
 so many obstructing difficulties. With 
 the deepest veneration and most anxious 
 solicitude, we watch the progress of this 
 friend of the human race; we mark the 
 fervency of his spirit, the diligence of 
 his labours, and the patience of his 
 sufferings ; our souls sympathize in all 
 he feels and endures, and we are im- 
 pressed with the persuasion, that, if a 
 Christian is the highest style of man, a 
 Missionary is the highest rank of the 
 Christian, and comes the nearest to the 
 sublime original exhibited in his blessed 
 Master. So strong indeed is this sym- 
 pathy, that we are frequently in danger 
 of forgetting the great Spirit, that kindles 
 this love, that inspires this zeal, that 
 supports and invigorates this persevering 
 
MR. WILLIAM WARD. 3 
 
 patience; while we admire the instru- 
 ment, that God uses in advancing his 
 cause, we are apt to consider the ex- 
 istence of such an instrument endued 
 with qualifications so eminent, as indis- 
 pensably necessary to the continued suc- 
 cess, if not to the very existence of that 
 cause. 
 
 There is no event, which so naturally 
 excites this sympathy, and stirs up this 
 struggle between our proneness to trust 
 and stop short in human means, and the 
 conviction that ivitJwut Christ we can do 
 nothing, as the death of one of these 
 highly favoured agents of divine power 
 and grace Standing at the side of a 
 Missionary's grave, we not only find our 
 minds melting with the tenderest emo- 
 tions of love and pity, while we retrace 
 the difficulties of his course, and lament, 
 to our feeble conceptions, its premature 
 termination ; but we are ready to identify 
 the cause with the man, and to cry in 
 B 2 
 
4 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 querulous discontent and unbelief, Mi/ 
 father, my father, the chariots of Israel, 
 and the horsemen thereof. Events of this 
 kind are therefore needful to teach us 
 our dependance on Divine aid, and that 
 the work of God will not stand still for 
 want of means, because the feeble, though 
 honoured instrument is taken away in the 
 midst of his labours; while all is under 
 the management and controul of that 
 Omnipotent Worker, whose eternal 
 purpose to accomplish his work is a 
 pledge of the supply of the necessary 
 means. 
 
 While, however, we should avoid that 
 admiration of the servant, which would 
 make us forget his Master, or tha^ com- 
 plaining under the dispensations of God's 
 bereaving providence, which implies a 
 reflection on his faithfulness in fulfilling 
 his promises, we may profitably cultivate 
 the memory of those, who have been cut 
 off in the midst of their useful and ho- 
 
Mr. WILLIAM WARD. O 
 
 nourable career, as a stimulus to our zeal, 
 and an encouragement to our patience. 
 The memory of the just is blessed : precious 
 in the sight of the Lord is the death of his 
 saints; and our interest as well as our 
 feelings, if we are believers, call us to be 
 followers of them, ivho through faith and 
 patience inherit the promises. 
 
 The church of God has lately been 
 called to mourn the loss of many of its 
 most faithful ministers, v/ho had devoted 
 themselves to the preaching of the Gos- 
 pel among the heathen, and some of 
 them have been taken away in the midst 
 of their usefulness, and at the very time, 
 when we, perhaps, imagined they could be 
 least spared. The loss of some has been 
 recent, and though months may have 
 elapsed since the death of others, the 
 wound seems still fresh and painful, and 
 the chasm, that has been made, is not 
 yet filled up. Of this number is the 
 subject of the present memoir, whose life, 
 
b MEMOIRS OP 
 
 though not marked by much of that kind 
 of incident, which will charm the worldly 
 mind, will be surveyed with deep inte- 
 rest by those, who love and pray for the 
 prosperity of Zion. 
 
 William Ward was born at Derby on 
 the 20th of October, 1769. He was the 
 son of John Ward, carpenter and builder 
 of that place, whose father, Thomas Ward, 
 was a farmer at Stretton, near Burton 
 in Staffordshire. Of his father nothing 
 remarkable is recorded, he died while his 
 son was quite a child ; but his mother, who 
 used to attribute her first serious thoughts 
 to a discourse by a female Quaker at the 
 Town Hall in Derby, was an attendant 
 on the preaching of the Methodists, and 
 appears to have been a truly christian 
 woman. From her conversations, and 
 particularly from her prayers, his first 
 impressions of the importance of religion 
 and the value of eternal things were de- 
 rived. It was her custom to converse 
 
MR. WILLIAiM WARD. 7 
 
 and pray with him in private, thus fol- 
 lowing the injunction of the Apostle, 
 bringing up her children in the nurture and 
 admonition of the Lord, Her instructions 
 and prayers had the effect of at least 
 preserving him from the vices, to which 
 youth are so much exposed, if not ot 
 laying the foundation for those reflections, 
 which ultimately issued in his conversion ; 
 thus furnishing another instance in ad- 
 dition to many already on record, of the 
 truth of the wise man's saying. Train 
 ujy a child in the icay he should go, and 
 when he is old he will 7iot depart from it. 
 It is much to be feared, that though a 
 general assent may be given by Christians 
 to this part of divine truth, a firm con- 
 viction of its certain fulfilment is rarely 
 felt, much less a solid confidence in the 
 promise which it contains. The idea, 
 that we cannot give our children grace, 
 or produce in their minds that abiding 
 impression of the instructions we afford 
 
8 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 them, which alone can warrant the ex- 
 pectation of success, added to the con- 
 viction of the natural depravity of the 
 human heart, often leads us to consider 
 any attempt to enforce religious instruc- 
 tion, as a reflection on the sovereignty of 
 God ; forgetting, that that sovereignty 
 almost always operates by human means, 
 and by those very means declares, the 
 excelhnci) of its jioiver. 
 
 Young Ward was not merely free from 
 a predilection for the vices of youth, but 
 he appears not to have been much ad- 
 dicted to their foibles and sports. Though 
 of an active disposition, his activity dis- 
 played itself chiefly in the improvement 
 of his mind ; nor could he be prevailed 
 upon to mingle much in the diversions 
 of his school-fellows. Several of them 
 have been heard to say, that they scarcely 
 ever remember to have seen him play, 
 and a near relation, who used to go with 
 him, when he was very young, to Mr. 
 
MR. WILLIAM WARD. ^ 
 
 Congreve's school at Derby, has declared, 
 that he frequently beat him to make him 
 stop while he played. 
 
 On leaving Mr. Congreve's school, he 
 was placed mider the tuition of a Mr. 
 Breary of the same place, with whom 
 he continued, till the time of his being 
 put apprentice. Of the nature and ex- 
 tent of his education little information 
 can be obtained ; but it may be conjec- 
 tured, that it was confined to the com- 
 mon branches cultivated in our English 
 schools ; for the knowledge of general 
 and classical literature, he was indebted 
 chiefly to the opportunities which his 
 business afforded, and his industrious 
 application in after life. The writer of 
 this memoir can bear witness to his 
 indefatigable industry and despatch; 
 though he was not remarkable for rising 
 extremely early, yet he was constantly 
 employed, and owing to the fluency of 
 his thoughts and the rapidity of his pen, 
 B 3 
 
iO MEMOIRS OF 
 
 he accomplished more than many could 
 have done in the same time. From his 
 youth he appears to have aimed at some- 
 thing out of the common way : a person 
 now resident in Derby, who was once 
 his school-fellow and afterwards his inti- 
 mate companion, says, that he was al- 
 ways composing something, and that 
 they were in the habit of walking out 
 together in an evening, sometimes till 
 late, discoursing on different subjects 
 to enlarge their minds. These circum- 
 stances, together with a remarkable stead- 
 iness, in which he differed from the gene- 
 rality of young people, impressed the 
 minds of many of his early associates 
 with the idea, that he was a most singu- 
 lar boy, and destined to fill some im- 
 portant station in the world. 
 
 On leaving school he was bound ap- 
 prentice to Mr. Drewry, printer and 
 bookseller of Derby, and at the expi- 
 ration of his apprenticeship, so useful 
 
MR. WILLIAM WARD. 11 
 
 had he become to his employer, that he 
 continued with, him two years longer, 
 during which time he was engaged in 
 conducting the publication of the Derby 
 Mercury. 
 
 He then removed to Stafford, where 
 he commenced the publication of a news- 
 paper, the property of a branch of the 
 same family, and it is said, that he was the 
 person who wrote the prospectus of the 
 work. After this he went to Hull in York- 
 shire, where he continued to follow his 
 business as a printer, and for some time 
 editor of the Hull Advertiser. Thus was he 
 early initiated into public life,nor was he by 
 any means ill- qualified for the part he had 
 undertaken. A mind naturally aspiring, 
 which could not altogether brook the plod- 
 ding course of common business, an ar- 
 dent imagination, a lively wit, united to a 
 tolerably discriminating judgment of men 
 and things, made him a valuable assis- 
 tant in the conducting of a provincial 
 
1^ MEMOlilS OF 
 
 journal ; and had he contmued to devote 
 himself to these pursuits, he would pro- 
 bably have been highly respectable and 
 successful. It may be observed too, (and 
 it is not frequently the case,) that his 
 talents v^ere never prostituted either to 
 the encouragement of vice, or to the 
 discountenancing of piety and religion ; 
 the papers, that he conducted, were never 
 made the vehicles of the ribald jest, or 
 the infidel scoff ; he had received early 
 impressions of the importance of sacred 
 things, and he had too just a sense of 
 the malignity of profaneness and infide- 
 lity, ever to lend himself to a cause 
 which requires such auxiliaries. 
 
 The time, however, was now drawing 
 near, when his religious character was to 
 be more fully developed, and his ener- 
 gies directed to more important objects. 
 Though in consequence of his pious mo- 
 ther's connection with the Methodists, 
 he, when young, constantly attended 
 
MR. WILLIAM WARD. 13 
 
 their Meetings, and though he afterwards 
 had his serious impressions deepened by 
 his attendance among the Independents of 
 his native town ; yet he was very early in 
 life convinced of the truth and obligation 
 of the baptism of believers by immer- 
 sion. He was a warm and active supporter 
 if the Baptist Church which was formed 
 in Derbyj about this time, in its first 
 difficulties and depressions ; and during 
 the latter part of his residence there 
 he used frequently to visit the Baptist 
 meetings in the neighbourhood. This 
 part of his history affords a striking 
 trait of his punctuality and zeal ; it 
 is said of him, that he often went over 
 to Codnor, to Burton, and even to 
 Nottingham, a distance of eighteen 
 miles, and v/as there before the re- 
 sident members. It does not appear, 
 however, that he made a public profes- 
 sion of his faith before his removal to 
 Hull, which took place about the year 
 
14 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 1794 or 1795. Here he fell in with a 
 Baptist Church, meeting in Salt-house 
 lane,^ under the pastoral care of the late 
 Mr. Beatson, and, after some time, was 
 baptized by him, and joined the church, 
 of which he continued an honourable 
 and useful member during his residence 
 in that town. 
 
 For his worthy pastor he ever felt the 
 highest respect, and the most affection- 
 ate regard ; and though he conscientious- 
 ly differed with him in some sentiments, 
 especially those relating to the calls and 
 invitations of the gospel, he was ever 
 ready to bear testimony to his worth, 
 and none more sincerely lamented his 
 death. The writer of this Memoir, who 
 had the happiness of being at that time 
 united with him in his studies, recollects 
 
 * This church afterwards removed to George 
 Street, and is now under the pastoral care of the 
 Rev. Mr. Thonger. 
 
MR. WILLIAM WARD. 15 
 
 his receiving the tidings, and how pa- 
 thetically he poured out his feelings in 
 an elegy on the occasion, which appear- 
 ed in some of the periodical works of the 
 day, and which will be found in the Ap- 
 pendix. 
 
 During some part of the period above 
 referred to, he seems to have been the 
 subject of very strong convictions, and 
 distressing conflicts. After his first pro- 
 fession of religion, he was harassed by 
 those temptations, that are often experi- 
 enced by the Lord's people, while their 
 knowledge of the gospel is yet imperfect. 
 He felt his own spiritual wretchedness 
 to such a degree, that he was led to 
 doubt the reality of his religious charac- 
 ter, and to repent, that he had ever made 
 a profession ; a feeling peculiarly afflict- 
 ing, but, at the same time, indicating a 
 "tenderness of conscience, and a high esti- 
 mate of the influence of vital Christianity, 
 that are truly pleasing to witness. The 
 
16 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 following letter, without date, written 
 some time after to a friend suffering un- 
 der feelings of the same kind, will suffice 
 to exhibit the trials he had gone through, 
 and in what considerations his troubled 
 spirit had found rest. 
 
 '' My Dear Friend, 
 
 '' I have felt too much of the torture 
 which you sustain, and have reasoned 
 too much like you, not to feel interested 
 in your case. I have reasoned till I have 
 been in a cold sweat ; I have tossed whole 
 nights. I have rued the day when I began 
 to profess religion ; I have thought every 
 body could read the language of my cor- 
 rupt heart, and see and hear the howling- 
 tempest within. I have said to myself. 
 Well, I may indulge, for I have no re- 
 ligion; I am in a state of wrath, and can- 
 not be worse : besides, I have committed 
 the crime already in my heart, and there- 
 fore, the sin will not be much greater. 
 
MR. WILLIAM WARD. 17 
 
 if it break out. Could you read all the 
 reasonings which passed through my 
 mind, you would be chilled with horror. 
 But I have been better since I came to 
 Hull, than ever I was since the storm 
 commenced. It might be expected, that 
 I should be able to say something to you, 
 having gone through the miry clay ; but 
 I am conscious, from my own case, that 
 you are little capable of quenching the 
 fierce volcano by a sprinkling of words. 
 Yet it might be profitable to read the 
 consequences of sin in the fate of Sodom 
 and Gomorrah, on whom the Lord rained 
 brimstone and fire from heaven; in a 
 drowning world, when all fiesh died that 
 moved on the face of the earth ; in the ex- 
 tirpation of the Canaanites ; but above 
 all, in the sufferings and death of Christ. 
 Can we expect but to lie down in sor- 
 row, and in eternal pain, if we die in 
 our sins ; when he, who came from the 
 bosom of the Father, sweat great drops 
 
18 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 of blood to atone for it ? But if the elo- 
 quence of his tears be not sufficient for 
 us ; let us draw the curtain, let us look 
 down into that pit, where the srnoke of 
 their torment ascendeth up for ever and 
 ever. If the fallen angels, and the ma- 
 jority of mankind (grown up) are lost ; if 
 Sodom and Gomorrah, and the old world 
 were punished for an ensample to all, 
 who shall hereafter live ungodly ; if the 
 earth must be burned up ; if it is already 
 depopulated by death (the consequence 
 of sin) every thirty years, and sixty hu- 
 man beings die every minute; — if three 
 fourths of mankind are reduced to the 
 slavery and ignorance of beasts ; — if the 
 world be filled with sickness, wars, op- 
 pressions, enmities, barbarities, &c. so 
 that happiness is almost excluded from 
 it, — then our ideas of the dreadful nature 
 of sin are infinitely too low ; there is a 
 malignity in it, that the faculties of man 
 cannot comprehend. 
 
MR. WILLIAM WARD. 19 
 
 '' But, my brother, we cannot surely 
 forego the full chorus of the Hallelujah — 
 the scene, when God shall luipe away the 
 tears from off all faces — the lessons on the 
 great plan of Providence and grace from 
 the lips of Gabriel ? Shall we miss the 
 company and sight of all good men for 
 ever — the company of the Great Philan- 
 thropist — all that you can possibly con- 
 ceive of pure pleasure, with infinity, and 
 eternity connected with it? Shall we 
 calmly pay all this for a drop of flatter- 
 ing sweet, that will end in eternal hor- 
 rors ? Oh, No! 
 
 ' We'll wield our passions, like our limbs, knowing, 
 The brutal powers were only born t'obey.' 
 
 ** Yes, my dear friend, I trust heaven 
 will perfect our present friendship. 
 
 " « Thither, when fate has brought our willing souls. 
 No matter, whether 'twas a sharp disease, 
 Or a sharp sword, that help'd the traveller on, 
 And pushed us to our home. Bear up, my friend. 
 
M MEMOIRS OF 
 
 Serenely, and break thro' the stormy brine 
 With steady prow; know, we shall once arrive 
 At the fair haven of eternal bliss. 
 To which we ever steer.' 
 
 W. W." 
 
 He knew and felt that common ten- 
 dency of the human mind, to pass from 
 despondency to carnal reasonings and 
 universal scepticism; that disposition, 
 which, when it finds a blank in its own 
 happiness, begins to doubt the very e!x- 
 istence of the great source of happiness. 
 Tried in this way he had learned to detect 
 the sophistical cavils of the great enemy, 
 to unravel the net, which had entwined 
 round the captive and dejected spirit ; 
 while he could sweetly and successfully 
 plead the infinite beneficence of a gra- 
 cious God, in soothing the sorrovv^s, and 
 ultimately relieving all the burdens of his 
 children. In another letter, also without 
 date, he thus reasons upon this subject. 
 
MR. WILLIAM WARD. 21 
 
 ** My Dear Friend, 
 
 ** That the earth has an infinite, 
 wise, powerful, just, and good Parent, 
 who governs all intelligences by these at- 
 tributes of his nature — that man, in his 
 disposition and proceedings, is disobe- 
 dient to the laws which the great Parent 
 and Governor has laid down for the 
 happiness of his creation — that he, in 
 consequence, needs a Mediator and a 
 Justifier, that he may be brought back 
 to foroiveness and favour — that Jesus 
 Christ is that Mediator — that true faith 
 in him is the channel, in which forgive- 
 ness and favour is bestowed — and that a 
 conformity of heart and life to his will is 
 the test of being thus favoured and for- 
 given — are points, which in our best mo- 
 ments we can no more doubt, than we 
 can the existence of the objects of sight; 
 but by foolishly attempting to read the 
 gospel in the actions of many of its pro- 
 fessors, we are led to doubt even whether 
 
22 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 the great machinery of nature did not 
 make itself, and whether the immortality, 
 the reason of our nature, did not grow 
 out of the dust of the earth. What is 
 there in this creed, but what nature and 
 experience confirm ? Nay, we must dis- 
 believe nature and experience too, if we 
 become sceptical enough to doubt the 
 truth of these leading points of Revela- 
 tion. 
 
 '* Not only is a state of indecision 
 painful, but it is dangerous also. The 
 credit which we give to truth, when our 
 minds are filled with doubt, will be but 
 a broken reed in trouble, and a weak 
 support in the hour of death. Instead 
 of going forward in the Christian course, 
 with intrepidity and zeal, we are stum- 
 bling and halting at every step ; and in- 
 stead of laying hold on eternal life, we 
 are enquiring whether the a, b, c, of our 
 religion be true. Such, at least, are the 
 feelings of your friend sometimes ; yet, 
 
MR. WILLIAM WARD. 23 
 
 amidst all the clogs he meets with, he 
 camiot make a surrender of the life and 
 immortality, brought to light by the 
 gospel, at the feet of infidelity ; and the 
 very fear of it makes his whole frame 
 shudder. 
 
 *' But why these desponding thoughts? 
 Of the Father of our spirits it is said, 
 He shall wipe the tears from off all faces. 
 Of whom else — of what human Philan- 
 thropist could this be said ? If we can 
 wipe the tears sometimes from the cheeks 
 of our dearest friends, our utmost bene- 
 volence is then expended ; but God shall 
 wipe the tears from off all faces ! vShall 
 we seek then to another father ? — Shall 
 we not give him entire credit for his in- 
 finite beneficence ? — Yes, my dear friend, 
 in filling, with sincere efforts, that place 
 in the scale of being which he approves 
 — in confessing our defects and un- 
 worthiness~in pleading the sacred sa- 
 crifice of Jesus — in diffusing the lustre of 
 
24 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 his bright example — in gratefully prais- 
 ing him for his sufferings unto death for us 
 — in contemplating the goodness, wisdom 
 and power of his providence — in submit- 
 ting to his clouded dispensations, and in 
 commending our dear relatives and all 
 his intelligent oifspring to his paternal 
 regard, let our whole life be spent, and 
 the end will assuredly be eternal life. 
 Such, or something like it, perhaps, 
 were the feelings of Dr. Watts, when he 
 wrote these lines : — 
 
 * We'd trace the streets 
 Of golden pavement, walk each blissful field, 
 And climb and taste the fruits, the spicy mountains 
 
 yield : 
 Then would we swear to keep the sacred road, 
 And walk right upward to that blest abode ; 
 We'd charge our parting spirits there to meet. 
 There, hand in hand, approach th' Almighty's 
 
 seat, 
 And bend our heads adoring at our Maker's feet !' 
 
 " Yours, 
 
 W.Ward." 
 
MR. WILLIAM WARD. 25 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 Containing a few circumstances of Mr. Ward's life, 
 from the time of his Baptism to his embarkation 
 as a Missionary to India. 
 
 During the time of Mr. Ward's resi- 
 dence at Hull, and especially after his 
 uniting with the Baptist church in that 
 town, he formed some close friendships 
 with a few individuals, of whom he after- 
 wards spoke with aifectionate remem- 
 brance, and with whom he continued to 
 correspond. Among these may be par- 
 ticularly mentioned Mr. Carlil, a worthy 
 and active deacon of the church, now 
 removed to Haworth ; Mr. Greenwood, 
 and the late Mr. Sedgwick ; from these 
 gentlemen he received many kindnesses; 
 at the house of the latter especially, he 
 was a frequent and welcome guest, and 
 regarded almost as one of the family. 
 
26 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 In the month of October, 1796, we 
 find him in London, whither he went, 
 we believe, to see some of his relatives, 
 who were in trouble. How long he con- 
 tinued there, does not appear ; probably, 
 however, it was only for a short period ; 
 but his heart was with his friends in Hull, 
 and he seems to have been more closely 
 attached to that place than to any other 
 in which he had resided. Though he 
 was highly esteemed in every situation 
 that he filled, and though he gained an in- 
 teresting circle of acquaintances every 
 where; yet it was there, that he first 
 found a religious home, and ever after he 
 cherished the most lively recollections 
 of the pleasures he had there experienc- 
 ed. He felt, however, the superior value 
 of the Divine presence to all earthly 
 friendship ; and was led to view worldly 
 disappointments as matters of thankful- 
 ness, as calculated to wean our wayward 
 affections from sublunary enjoyments, 
 
MR. WILLIAM WARD. ^/ 
 
 and to fix them more intensely upon our 
 infinite, and all- satisfying portion. Thus 
 writing from the metropolis to one of his 
 friends, who was smarting under a re- 
 cent trial of this nature, he says — 
 
 '' Nothing can be more certain, than 
 that all things work together for good to 
 those that love God ; and I am persuaded 
 you will bear your present disappoint- 
 ment with comparative ease, if you can 
 realize in it the compassionate interfer- 
 ence of your heavenly Father. If you 
 have chosen him for your portion, un- 
 doubtedly in that choice you made an 
 unreserv^ed submission to his will, as your 
 best directory; and if you and I, my 
 dear friend, shall be permitted, after the 
 winding up of the Divine accounts, to ex- 
 amine the sacred book of Providence, I 
 am quite certain, we shall find, opposite 
 to the memorandum of the present oc- 
 currence, such a reason for it, as will 
 fill you, at least, with sentiments of the 
 c 2 
 
28 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 highest gratitude. A Christian never 
 loses any thing by the interference of 
 Divine Providence. Perhaps in the pre- 
 sent case, the disappointment may be 
 connected with the prevention of many 
 sorrows, or the introduction of some su- 
 perior good. At any rate, submission 
 becomes an important duty, even on the 
 score of self-interest. 
 
 '* In all our future course, let us act 
 with a conviction, that he, who adminis- 
 ters all dispensations, approves of our 
 conduct; and then if sorrow should be our 
 lot, our conscience will not sting us, and 
 we shall be able to tell him, who can 
 disperse the thickest clouds, all our in- 
 felicities. Let us endeavour to live un- 
 der the persuasion, that the proprietor 
 of all worlds, and the Author of Re- 
 demption is our portion, and then we 
 shall not seem to want so many auxi- 
 liary joys. Let us recollect, how brittle 
 are our present enjoyments, that in our 
 
MR. WILLIAM WARD. 29 
 
 efforts to lay hold of them they often 
 pierce us like a thorn, or break by our 
 grasp, or moulder in our hands. The 
 mind's calm sunshine infinitely exceeds 
 all the scorching rays of passion. There 
 are no thorns in the bosom of God. I 
 commend you, my dear friend, to the 
 wisdom and kindness of the friend of 
 sinners, and am unfeignedly yours, 
 
 W. Ward." 
 In this interesting circle of friends, he 
 spent many of his leisure moments, and 
 reciprocal confidence reigned in their 
 intercourse; when an event occurred, 
 that gave a new turn to his aftairs, and 
 in a degree changed the prospects of his 
 future life. He had been accustomed for 
 some time past, occasionally, to preside 
 at religious meetings, and to preach the 
 gospel in the villages round Hull : but 
 Divine Providence was now opening the 
 way to his being completely devoted to 
 the work of the ministry. 
 
30 xMEMOIRS OF 
 
 Through the means of some of his 
 friends he was introduced to the notice 
 of Mr. Fishwick, then of Newcastle-upon- 
 Tyne, a man once blessed with a large 
 fortune, and still more blessed in the 
 possession of a liberal heart to employ 
 it, one of those few Christians, who live 
 up to their privileges, and consider them- 
 selves as stewards of the manifold mer- 
 cies of God. By this gentleman he was 
 encouraged in his pursuit of useful 
 knowledge, and the desire he felt to 
 devote himself to the ministry of the 
 gospel; and his qualifications for that 
 important work having been recognized 
 by the church, of which he was a member, 
 he undertook the expence of his prepa- 
 ratory studies. 
 
 No carnal motive influenced Mr. Ward 
 in thus devoting himself to the ministry; 
 worldly gain was certainly not the in- 
 ducement to his undertaking of this im- 
 portant work, since the situation he filled 
 
MR. WILLIAM WARD. 31 
 
 probably presented a much more flatter- 
 ing prospect ; bodily ease and indulgence 
 could have little influence, as his avoca- 
 tions were not painfully laborious, and 
 a mind like his, habitually active and in- 
 dustrious, could have ill brooked a state 
 of inaction ; nor was it a life of mere 
 learned leisure, that he sought, as his 
 general pursuits favoured the acquisition 
 of knowledge. It was a powerful im- 
 pulse that urged him to resign, if it 
 were necessary, every fair prospect in 
 life, for the love of the Saviour and 
 good will to the souls of his fellow 
 men ; and he felt, that, while entering on 
 the work, he was incurring an awful re- 
 sponsibility, from which no human suffi- 
 ciency could discharge him. In the 
 view of this great undertaking, with all 
 its high and holy duties, he thus writes 
 to a friend : — 
 
32 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 " July 20, 1797. 
 
 '' I thought I had been fixed at Hull; 
 I had a pleasant lodging facing the Hum- 
 ber, refreshed by its gales, inviting me 
 to its banks, gratifying me by its passing 
 current, and its stately barks. I was 
 occupied in a situation, in which I often 
 indulged my pen and my fancy, to the 
 satisfaction of my employers. I was 
 surrounded by friends, on whose smiles 
 I sometimes imprudently fed. My mind 
 was calm, and I had some leisure for my 
 friend and my books. Sometimes I 
 walked with Eugenio to the country 
 house of a friend, and we cheered the 
 hours of darkness with the tale of friend- 
 ship. Sometimes I called upon him for the 
 evening walk ; at other times we ex- 
 changed the friendly epistle ; and some- 
 times I went into the villages, to gladden 
 the hearts of my fellow men with good 
 t idings of great joy . 
 
MR. WII-r.TAM WARD. 33 
 
 '* 111 the midst of these employments 
 and pleasures, I received an invitation to 
 go to Ewood-Hall — to leave Hull — per- 
 haps for ever ! ! Conscience commands 
 me to go — to enter on a new line of life 
 — to combat difficulties and prejudices 
 — to be subject to the cavils of the bigot, 
 and the frowns of the dissipated — to in- 
 cur the displeasure of the mermaids of 
 professors, half sinners and half saints— 
 to live, perhaps, on thirty pounds a year 
 -—to warn men night and day with tears 
 — to tremble, lest I myself should be a 
 cast away, and that the blood of damned 
 souls should be required at my hands. 
 Who is sufficient for these things ? 
 
 *' If you feel any of that sincere re- 
 gard, which I trust you do, for the 
 person in these circumstances, I hope 
 you will pray for him and advise him. 
 Oh ! to be animated with the ardour of 
 Paul ; / am ready not to be bound onhi 
 c 5 
 
34 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 at Jerusalem for the name of Jesus, but to 
 die for his sake. " 
 
 Your's, 
 
 W. Ward." 
 
 In consequence of arrangements made 
 by his friends, he was sent by Mr. Fish- 
 wick, in the month of August 1797, to 
 Ewood-Hall, near Halifax, in Yorkshire, 
 an academy kept by the Rev. Dr. Faw- 
 cett, who had for some years received 
 under his care two or three theological 
 students. This excellent man, whose 
 Memoirs are already before the public, 
 from the elegant pen of his son, the Rev. 
 John Fawcett, united in his character a 
 combination of talents of no mean order, 
 with the most unaffected humility. 
 Having had to struggle with difficulties 
 in his early life, he owed most of the 
 advantages he possessed to the native 
 energy of his mind, and his assiduous 
 diligence in improving it ; in this respect 
 
MR. WILLIAM WARD. 35 
 
 he was no unworthy compeer of a Taylor, 
 a Booth, or a Fuller, names deservedly 
 dear to the church of God for the services 
 they have rendered to the cause of truth. 
 His learning was solid, his reading ex- 
 tensive, his judgment accurate and dis- 
 criminating, and his knowledge of the 
 human heart, and the operations of its 
 various passions, displayed in most of 
 his published works, was deep and 
 scriptural. Yet while his writings pro- 
 cured him universal esteem, while they 
 wrought his way, unknown to himself, 
 even to royal favour, and enabled him, by 
 his intercession, to snatch from impend- 
 ing death the child of a highly respected 
 friend; while his unfeigned piety, his 
 apostolic zeal, and his rich and useful 
 gifts were highly appreciated by all who 
 knew him, and gave him almost a patri- 
 archal influence over the churches with 
 which he stood connected, he was un- 
 conscious of any thing but his infirmi- 
 
36 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 ties ; such was his humility and retiring 
 modesty, that he shrunk from public no- 
 tice, nor did he ever ascend the pulpit, 
 where a peculiar unction accompanied 
 his labours, without a diffidence that 
 not only oppressed himself, but all who 
 beheld him. 
 
 Under this worthy tutor, Mr. Ward 
 pursued his classical studies, and though 
 the time he spent at this place was too 
 short for him to make very great progress 
 in the learned languages, yet he doubt- 
 less laid the foundation of that critical 
 skill, which enabled him afterwards to 
 be so useful in forwarding that great 
 work, the translation and publishing of 
 the Holy Scriptures into the languages 
 of the East. Nor was he inattentive to 
 that course of reading, which was cal- 
 culated to fit him for the great work, to 
 which he was devoted. In addition to 
 the word of God, he read with much 
 application the different standard works, 
 
MR. WILLIAM WARD. 37 
 
 which explain and illustrate it ; and it 
 was his custom to take notes from the 
 books that he read, and frequently to 
 make short analyses of them. He thus 
 acquired an extensive acquaintance with 
 the great subjects connected with his 
 ministry, while all his acquirements were 
 rendered subordinate to the advancement 
 of his inward piety and growth in grace. 
 In this situation Mr. Ward continued 
 about a year and a half, enjoying the 
 opportunity, thus afforded tc him, of im- 
 proving his mind and cultivating his 
 talents. His amiable and christian tem- 
 per endeared him to the inmates of the 
 family with whom he resided. The fol- 
 lowing notice of him from the Memoirs 
 of Dr. Fawcett already alluded to, will 
 show the estimation in which he was 
 held by them, as well as furnish the 
 reader with a pleasing view of his zea- 
 lous spirit and useful labours at that 
 time. 
 
38 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 *' A residence of about a year and a 
 half at Ewood Hall endeared Mr. Ward 
 as much to the family, as his exertions 
 in behalf of the heathen have raised him 
 in the esteem of the public. They wit- 
 nessed the first appearance of that mis- 
 sionary spirit, which induced him after- 
 wards to relinquish every other engage- 
 ment for this sacred cause. His most 
 delightful employment was to preach in 
 hamlets, wherever he could collect a 
 congregation ; and by the dispersion of 
 short tracts, &c. to lead careless, as well 
 as enquiring souls, to a serious attention 
 to the best things." 
 
 His own feelings with regard to his 
 situation at this time, are thus pleasingly 
 expressed in a letter to an intimate friend : 
 — *' I have longed for your company, 
 and have thought, how happy I should 
 be, if you were coming in, when I have 
 been sitting by the fire in an evening ; 
 but in general I am happy. Without 
 
MR. WILLIAM WARD. 39 
 
 much concern for the future, I think it 
 would be a crime not to enjoy the twelve 
 months, which Providence has given me to 
 be happy in. 1 find a good air and good 
 men, good companions ; I feel no want 
 of the pipe, or wine, or any thing else, 
 but more love to God, and the company 
 of my friends. All the family are ob- 
 liging, and here is an intelligent young- 
 man, that prints for Mr. Fawcett, who 
 makes me a cheerful companion." 
 
 While at Ewood Hall, his time was 
 not exclusively devoted to study, nor 
 did he suffer his talents to rust in inac- 
 tivity ; the preaching of the gospel was 
 his favourite employ, and he embraced 
 every opportunity, that offered itself 
 both in the neighbourhood and else- 
 where. Allusion has been made to his 
 preaching in the adjoining hamlets, and it 
 may be observed, that he established, of his 
 own accord, a week-day lecture in a village 
 called Midgley, about half a mile distant ; 
 
40 , MEMOIRS OF 
 
 this lecture he supplied regularly during 
 his residence in that country, mostly with- 
 out any assistance, except in the latter 
 part of the time, when the writer of these 
 Memoirs sometimes took his turn with 
 him. There, elevated on a three-legged 
 stool, with his little Bible in his hand, 
 did he often preach, with fervour and 
 affection, the unsearchableriches of Christ 
 to an audience crowded to the full extent 
 of the little cottage-room, in which it was 
 assembled. It was in these meetings, 
 that his missionary zeal seems to have 
 been kindled and fed : writing to the 
 same friend on this subject, he uses the 
 following expressions ; — ** I was preach- 
 ing last night in a house near this place. 
 We had a house full, and I seemed as if 
 I had been surrounded with a group of 
 Hottentots. 1 felt much liberty in saying 
 unto the righteous, it shall be well with 
 him; woe unto the ivicked, it shall be ill 
 with himJ' 
 
MR. WILLIAM WARD. 41 
 
 While thus engaged, he had many 
 difficulties to encounter ; in addition to 
 the circumstance, by no means pleasing 
 to flesh and blood, of preaching to a few 
 poor people in a miserable hovel, he had 
 to endure much from the ignorance and, 
 not unfrequently, the opposition of the 
 villagers. Though surrounded with pla- 
 ces, where the gospel was preached, none 
 of them at a greater distance than about 
 two miles, ihey were many of them ig- 
 norant of the first principles of real re- 
 ligion ; a manifest proof this, of the 
 necessity of carrying the word home to 
 people, even to their doors. The greater 
 part of mankind are not inclined to hear 
 the truth, and frequently the very cir- 
 cumstance, that there are regular places 
 of worship near them, where it is preach- 
 ed, operates as an inducement to delay any 
 present attention to it ; as in the affairs 
 of common life, a scene which we can 
 behold every day, and that with little 
 
42 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 exertion, we frequently never see at all. 
 Hence, therefore, as the gospel is a sub- 
 ject, that men will not take much pains 
 to hear or consider, it is needful, in a 
 manner, to force it on their notice, to 
 preach it from house to house, to go out 
 into the highways and hedges and com- 
 pel them to come in. Encouragements * 
 to efforts of this kind are not wanting, 
 and these labours of Mr. Ward were 
 instrumental in adding to the number 
 of the neighbouring churches, and lea- 
 ving a lasting memorial of him in the 
 hearts of not a few. 
 
 Nor was he without invitations to 
 preach to more regular congregations; 
 he occasionally assisted his worthy tutor, 
 and was frequently called to supply more 
 distant and destitute churches, some of 
 which were desirous of his settling with 
 them. Among these may be particularly 
 noticed the church at Gildersome, a 
 village about seventeen miles from 
 
MR. WlLLlAiM WARD. 43 
 
 Ewoocl ; here he very frequently preach- 
 ed, and his labours appeared so accep- 
 table and useful, that he was strongly 
 solicited to take the charge of the peo- 
 ple ; he seems, however, to have made 
 up his mind not hastily to abandon his 
 studies, and therefore, though he con- 
 tinued to supply their pulpit as often as 
 he could, almost to the time of his en- 
 tering on missionary service, he gave 
 them to understand, that he could make 
 no further engagement, until he had at 
 least continued three years in his present 
 situation. Of the urgency of these in- 
 vitations, and the acceptableness of his 
 labours, some judgment may be formed 
 from the following extracts of letters, 
 written at the time to one of his friends. 
 '* They would keep me at Gildersome, 
 I rather think, if I would accept of the 
 charge. A Mr. H. is the principal sup- 
 porter of the cause, though he is a Uni- 
 tarian, or something like it. He is a 
 
44 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 rich man, and goes about doing good. 
 He reads a moral lecture to the villagers 
 every Sunday evening. The young men 
 have been principally instructed 6y him ; 
 the poor are in some measure fed and 
 clothed by him, and he appears very 
 liberal in mind, as well as in purse. 
 He seemed pleased with my preaching ; 
 but I fancy he thought it too evangelical. 
 A sister of Dr. Priestley, who lives with 
 him as his house-keeper, was very well 
 pleased, and seemed quite anxious for 
 me to supply them at least as often as I 
 could. I told Mr. H. my mind was 
 made up to stay where I am at present. 
 I think unless some very inviting situa- 
 tion offers, I shall stay here at least three 
 years." 
 
 Writing to another friend he thus 
 speaks on the same subject. 
 
 ''1 go still to Gildersome. The con- 
 gregation, I hope, is on the increase. I 
 am generally quite weary on the Sunday 
 
MR. WILLIAM WARD. 45 
 
 evening : I preach three times, and cate- 
 chize the children, endeavouring to im- 
 press on their minds some of the plainest 
 truths of natural and revealed religion. 
 They listen in general with the greatest 
 attention, and I am highly pleased with 
 this part of my work. Never were my 
 rhymes more honoured than in becoming 
 the '' Children's Hymn." I suppose we 
 had nearly eighty children at the catechi- 
 zing last Lord's day. 
 
 *' Feb. 7th. On Sunday I had a depu- 
 tation from the church and congregation 
 at Gildersome, inviting me to settle 
 amongst them. I preached in the after- 
 noon to one of the largest congregations 
 they have had for some time. The 
 children sang my hymn at the close of 
 the sermon, (on the duty of parents be- 
 coming the religious teachers of their 
 children,) amidst the tears of many of 
 the hearers. In the evening I preached 
 in a house ; it was a very comfortable 
 
46 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 opportunity — to me — to many. I in- 
 formed the deputation, that I could not 
 think of leaving my studies. They 
 seemed desirous of my giving them 
 some expectation of settling at length 
 among them. I have almost promised 
 to supply them for the next half-year, 
 w^ithout pledging myself any further." 
 
 While thus engaged, he seems to have 
 enjoyed much of the pleasures of religion ; 
 he felt deeply the importance of the 
 truths that he preached, and longed after 
 those joys, which he so pathetically de- 
 scribed to others. A letter to a young 
 friend, who was occasionally employed 
 in the same delightful work, is so expres- 
 sive of his feelings on these subjects, 
 that we cannot resist the desire of pre- 
 senting our readers with a short extract. 
 
 *' How pleasing in variety ! How 
 often we promise ourselves, that a new 
 scene shall bring the bliss, we have 
 sought for in vain amongst objects, with 
 
MR, WILLIAM WARD. 47 
 
 which we are familiar. Poor man ! how 
 art thou tossed by the storms of vanity | 
 We try new pleasures, but we feel, &c. 
 Well ! there is a port of rest. 
 
 * To that our labouring* souls aspire, 
 With ardent pangs of strong desire.' 
 
 ** Who will show us any good ? If 
 peace of conscience — joy in believing — 
 composure amidst a tempest — and pros- 
 pects of immortal felicity — be good, then 
 Christianity shows us just that good, 
 which every immortal pants after. ' 'Tis 
 indeed,' as Dr. Watts says, ' a balm for 
 every wound, a cordial for our fears.' 
 
 *' On Saturday I walked seventeen 
 miles on a preaching errand, being dis- 
 appointed of a horse. The rains de- 
 scended — the winds blew, and the floods 
 came;' but 'God tempers the wind to 
 the shorn lamb !' My feet were sore, 
 and my stockings were wet; in other 
 respects I fared pretty well. Ah! said 
 
48 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 I to myself, when will the journey of 
 life terminate ? Our views are so ob- 
 scure, our imperfections are so many, 
 our joys are so poor and short lived, and 
 we can do so little good, that / have a 
 desire to depart and to be with Christ, 
 which is far better. Blessed Redeemer! 
 let me not be deceived by any deception, 
 however near the truth ; let thy presence 
 gild my eternity. 
 
 * For I have sought no other home, 
 For I have learned no other rest.' 
 
 " I cannot think, what is the matter 
 with you. What is the reason 'you are 
 often very ill ?' Come here and learn to 
 preach. The air of these hills will new- 
 model your constitution. May your 
 heart be comforted, and your mind 
 strengthened in the ways of God. May 
 you be prosperous in the vineyard of 
 Divine Truth. Do not forget me in 
 
MR. WILLIAM WARD. 49 
 
 your retirements, and be assured of an 
 interest in the prayers of, 
 
 Yours, &c. 
 
 W, Ward. 
 
 Mr. Ward had been at Ewood Hall 
 about twelve months, when in the Au- 
 tumn of the year 1798, one of the mem- 
 bers of the Baptist Mission Committee 
 happening to visit that place for the pur- 
 pose of gaining an insight into the Print- 
 ing business, which was carried on there, 
 he held many conversations with him on 
 the important object of that v^ociety. 
 It was probably at this period, that he 
 recalled more forcibly to his recollection 
 what Dr. Carey had said to him just 
 before he departed for India in the year 
 1793. Having, in one of his farewell 
 visits to his friends, met with Mr. Ward, 
 who was then following the business of 
 a printer, the Doctor said, '*If the Lord 
 bless us, we shall want a person of your 
 
 D 
 
50 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 business, to enable us to print the Scrip- 
 tures ; I hope you will come after us." 
 Whatever impression these words might 
 have produced at the time they were 
 spoken, he never expressed his feelings 
 on the subject till the period, to which 
 we are now referring ; in the course of 
 the conversations, which then took place, 
 he avowed his readiness to engage in 
 this great cause, and at the suggestion 
 of the above-mentioned individual, he 
 opened his mind in writing to the late 
 excellent Mr. Fuller, at that time the Se- 
 cretary of the Baptist Missionary Society. 
 By that gentleman his communication was 
 laid before the Committee, that met at 
 Northampton, on September 20th of the 
 same year, when they unanimously con- 
 curred in requesting him to visit them and 
 preach at their next meeting at Kettering, 
 in the month of October following. The 
 result of this interview was so satisfac- 
 tory, that they resolved to accept him 
 
MR. WILLIAM WARD. 51 
 
 as one of their missionaries, and deter- 
 mined, that he should go out, with two 
 or three others who had offered them- 
 selves, in the spring of the ensuing 
 year. 
 
 During these negociations with the 
 Baptist Missionary Society, Mr. Ward 
 visited several towns in the central parts 
 of the kingdom, where the friends of the 
 Society were very anxious to see him, 
 and very warm in their testimonies of 
 affectionate regard. In the month of 
 November, 1798 he visited Nottingham, 
 a place endeared to him by some of the 
 early incidents of his life ; but though 
 he was not insensible to the kindness of 
 his numerous and increasing acquain- 
 tance, his soul was absorbed in the 
 thoughts of his new and high vocation. 
 A letter, which he wrote to his friend 
 the day before he left this place, will 
 serve to show his devotedness to the 
 great cause, and his ardent and pious 
 D 2 
 
52 MEMOIRS OF « 
 
 feelings in the contemplation of it ; that 
 though he had a heart formed for the clos- 
 est earthly friendship, and open to the 
 deepest sensations of anguish at parting 
 with his friends, yet he had been brought 
 to that happy state, in which he felt 
 himself bound to be wholly the Lord's, 
 and that it w^as of little consequence in 
 what part of the world his life was spent, 
 so that it was consecrated to his service. 
 
 Nottingham f November 8, 1798. 
 
 My Dear Friend, 
 
 Providence, apparently, is about 
 to remove me into a new world, many 
 thousands of miles from the market place, 
 Hull; but let the winds rise, let the waves 
 roar; they shall not disperse or overwhelm 
 the sacred aspirations of friendship, 
 which I shall send to you from the 
 shades of India, from my bamboo house 
 at Mudnabatty, nor those you will not 
 fail to send to me from your parlour on 
 a winter's evening. 
 
MR. WILLIAM WARD. 53 
 
 *^ I assure you, my dear friend, I 
 should have felt it a peculiar happiness, 
 if Divine Providence had seen good to 
 permit us to live together m the same 
 town. I feel a peculiar freedom in 
 calling you friend, and I think that 
 mutual confidence, so necessary to the 
 enjoyment of friendship, has subsisted 
 in both of our minds, and does subsistand 
 shall subsist. I hope to spend a few 
 days at Hull before I undertake my 
 voyage, and I trust, in the mean time, 
 you v/ili unite my interest with yours at 
 a throne of grace. Every day's ex- 
 perience convinces me, that 'tis safety, 
 'tis life, 'tis heaven — to rest in the bosom 
 of our God, and nowhere else but there. 
 I am afraid lest m}^ heart should deceive 
 me ; but I feel at present a resignation 
 to the divine will, which I never felt 
 before. Life appears so empty a bubble, 
 (though I feel nothing of vexation) that 
 I conceive it ridiculous to be very much 
 D 3 
 
54 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 aifected with any of its revolutions; and 
 I feel a kind of pity for the man, how- 
 ever vast his treasures, who is not pre- 
 pared to live or to die, and to whom it is 
 not indifferent, whether he live or die. 
 With such views, the voyage to India 
 seems but like crossing the Humber. A 
 few more respirations, and the lungs 
 shall cease to play, the pulse to beat, 
 the tongue to move— and then, 
 
 ' ^Yliat boots it, where the high reward is given. 
 Or vv'hence the soul triumphant wings to heaven/ 
 
 **0h, my brother, cleave unto the 
 Lord, — make him your perpetual choice, 
 — make no reserve for ease and interest 
 in the dedication of your soul to him. 
 Let this dedication be your daily work, 
 —always be anxious, that the way from 
 earth to heaven may be open to you, 
 and this life will be the sweetest you 
 have ever known. — Adieu. 
 
 W. Ward," 
 
MR. WILLIAM WARD. 55 
 
 In the month of December following, 
 he complied with an urgent invitation to 
 spend a few sabbaths at Birmingham, in 
 order to assist the late Mr. Pearce, who 
 was then laid aside by illness. 
 
 An intimacy had commenced between 
 them a few months before, when Mr. 
 Ward was in Northamptonshire, and it 
 appears by the following brief extract of 
 a letter to him from Mr. Pearce, which 
 he quotes in writing to one of his friends 
 about this time, that his character was 
 highly appreciated by that excellent man. 
 ** I have received," says Mr. Ward, *'a 
 pressing request to supply two or three 
 Sabbaths this Christmas for poor dear 
 brother Pearce. — He is very poorly — 
 Perhaps I may comply. He has written 
 to me two most affectionate letters : in 
 one of them he says, ' Do you want 
 time ? you shall have it here. Do you 
 want books ? you shall have them here. 
 Do you want a friend ? be assured, the 
 D 4 
 
56 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 hand, that moves this pen, belongs to a 
 heart warmly attached to you. If you 
 love me — come and help me. Come and 
 secure the hearts and the prayers of the 
 hundreds of Birmingham Christians, who 
 only want to know you, to love you too." 
 He continued to preach at Birmingham, 
 with a few intervals, until the beginning 
 of March 1799, and a close and ardent 
 friendship was formed between him and 
 that interesting man. No one, who knew 
 them both, could be surprised at this ; 
 there was so striking a similarity between 
 them in the genius of their minds, in 
 the warm affection of their natural dis- 
 positions, but above all in their consum- 
 ing zeal for the advancement of the 
 kingdom of Christ and the salvation of 
 souls, that it would have been matter of 
 wonder, if such an event had not taken 
 place. An extract from one of his let- 
 ters at this time will serve to show the 
 estimation, in which Mr. Ward held his 
 
MR. WILLIAM WARD. 57 
 
 friend, and furnish so faithful a portrai- 
 ture of him, that all, who enjoyed the 
 privilege of knowing the original, must 
 immediately recognize it. 
 
 Birmingham, JDecemher 31sf, 1798. 
 
 My dear Brother, 
 
 On Wednesday, the 19tb, I left 
 Ewood Hall for this place, to assist bro- 
 ther Pearce, whose efforts for the good of 
 his fellow-creatures have almost worn him 
 out. Thank God, he is better, and, I hope, 
 will still be a blessing to many ; he is not 
 yet able to preach, but I hope, he will be in 
 a few weeks. I cannot describe to you 
 what pleasure I feel in communion with 
 brethren Pearce, Fuller and the Nor- 
 thamtonshire Ministers in general ; I 
 love them, not only because of their 
 views of the gospel, but on account of 
 their being thoroughly given up, in heart 
 and soul to Jesus Christ, and to promote 
 the eternal welfare of their fellow crea- 
 D 5 
 
58 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 tares. Oh ! how does personal religion 
 shine in Brother Pearce ! What a soul ! 
 What a death in his soul to the world ! 
 What ardour for the glory of God ! 
 What a diffusive benevolence towards 
 alj, especially towards all v/ho love 
 Cnrist and show it by their devotion to 
 his will ! Instead of being all froth and 
 fume, you see in him a mind wholly 
 given up to God ; a sacred lustre shines 
 in his whole conversation ; always tran- 
 quil, always cheerful, always bearing 
 about this truth, ' It is mi/ ?neat and my 
 drink to do the will of my heavenly Father' 
 It is impossible to doubt the truth of 
 experimental religion, if you be ac- 
 quainted with Pearce. Such is he, as 
 it respects personal religion. He preaches 
 three times on the Lord's day, and two 
 or three times in the week. He teaches 
 the young people of his congregation the 
 easiest parts of Natural Philosophy and 
 Astronomy. They have a Sunday school, 
 
MR. WILLIAM WARD. 59 
 
 at which between 2 and 300 children are 
 instructed ; a benevolent society, from 
 the funds of which they distribute £60 
 or £70 a year, or more, amongst the poor 
 of the church and congregation ; a cir- 
 culating library of good books, let out 
 to read at a shilling a quarter, and a 
 sick society, for visiting the distressed 
 in all parts of the town. Here are 
 the expandings of the soul of a Pearce 1 
 Great God! let us have a shower of 
 them — that the earth may be filled 
 with the knowledge of the Lord, as the 
 waters cover the sea. 
 
 *' Yours, 
 
 W. Ward.'^ 
 
 A man who could feel so deeply, and 
 describe in so interesting a manner the 
 character of a Pearce, must have par- 
 taken of the same mind, and imbibed 
 something of the same spirit : their 
 kindred minds clave to one another ; they 
 
60 MEiMOlRS OF 
 
 were lovely and pleas ajit in their lives , but 
 in their deaths they were indeed soon di- 
 vided.'' Exhausted by excessive and 
 abundant labours, and emaciated by dis- 
 ease, in a great measure the consequence 
 of those labours, Mr. Pearce closed his 
 short, but glorious career, triumphing in 
 the truths of that Gospel, which he had 
 so faithfully and affectionately preached, 
 and the news of his decease were among 
 the first, which reached his friend on his 
 arrival in India. ' Blessed spirits ! Short 
 was the date of your earthly friendship, 
 and brief the communications, which ye 
 held in this world of sorrows ; but long 
 ere this ye have recognized each other 
 in the climes of bliss, exchanged your 
 congratulations for deliverances obtained, 
 for victories achieved, and for the success 
 with which God has blessed you, and 
 now ye are uniting to cast your crowns 
 at the feet of him, who '' loved you and 
 washed you from your sins in his blood.' 
 
MR. WILLIAM WARD. 61 
 
 On the 7th May, 1799, Mr. Ward was 
 set apart to the work of a Christian 
 Missionary, together with Mr. Brunsdon, 
 who died in India about two years after 
 this period, at a meeting held at Ohiey, 
 in Buckinghamshire. The service, which 
 was accompanied, according to primitive 
 example, with prayer and fasting, was 
 deeply interesting ; and the reply of Mr, 
 Ward to the questions, which Mr. Fuller 
 proposed to the missionaries respecting 
 their motives and their religious prin- 
 ciples, is indicative of such ardent and 
 rational piety and zeal, that, although 
 it is before the public in several perio- 
 dical works, we cannot forbear giving it 
 a place in these Memoirs. 
 
 **I have received, " said he, *' no new 
 revelation on the subject ; I did not ex- 
 pect any. Our Redeemer has said. Go 
 ye into all the worlds and 'preach the gospel 
 to every creature : and lo ! I am ivlth you 
 always, even to the end of the world. This 
 
62 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 command I consider as still binding; 
 since the promise of Christ's presence 
 reaches to the utmost corner of the earth, 
 and to the utmost boundaries of time. 
 
 "While I was at Ewood Hall, I re- 
 ceived an invitation to carry the Gospel 
 and a printing press to India, where 
 brother Carey and others have erected 
 the standard of the cross : I prayed to 
 God and advised with my friends ; in 
 complying with this invitation I gave 
 up all other prospects, and devoted my- 
 self to that of attempting to bless a 
 nation of heathens. Since that time my 
 peace and joy in God have more and 
 more abounded. Duty and pleasure 
 have in my employment gone hand in 
 hand ; and sometimes I have been ena- 
 bled to say, 
 
 " No joy can be compared with this, 
 To serve and please the Lord.- 
 
MR. WILLIAM WARD. 63 
 
 " In his strength, therefore, I would 
 go forth, borne up by your prayers; 
 hoping, that two or three stones at 
 least may be laid of Christ's kingdom in 
 India, nothing doubting, but that the fair 
 fabric will rise from age to age, till time 
 shall be no more. 
 
 ''The being and attributes of God, 
 the total depravity of man, free and full 
 salvation by the grace of God through 
 a Mediator, the deity of Christ, the 
 work of the Holy Spirit in regeneration, 
 and the final salvation of all believers, 
 are the doctrines which I believe, and 
 consider as inclusive of all others. It is 
 to the doctrine of the cross, that I look 
 for success in the conversion of the 
 heathen." 
 
 V/ith such devoted feelings and sen- 
 timents he embarked on his missionary 
 career, and that, while the prospects of 
 usefulness in his own country were open- 
 ing upon him. The more he became 
 
64 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 known, the more highly he was esteemed 
 and several numerous and respectable 
 congregations would have gladly availed 
 themselves of his labours ; but he had 
 *' confessed himself a pilgrim and a stran- 
 ger in the earth," and no motives of carnal 
 ease, worldly advantage, or popularity, 
 could turn him aside; ** having put his 
 hand to the plough he would not look 
 back." 
 
 Writing to a friend in the month of 
 December, 1798, he expressed his cheer- 
 fulness in the prospect of the long voyage 
 before him, and exhibits the activity of 
 a mind, that could not readily yield to 
 that lassitude or indolence, which so 
 many feel in such circumstances. 
 
 ** I expect to be in London in May, 
 and embark soon after for Mudnabatty 
 in the East Indies — I look forward to a 
 six months voyage without dismay ; be- 
 cause I hope to have Derham, Rollin, 
 Goldsmith, Johnson, Robinson, Hervey, 
 
MR. WILLIAM WARD. 65 
 
 Saurin, Mosheim, Cowper, &c. &c. &c. 
 in company with me. With a cahn con- 
 science and such company, who would 
 envy the men of noisy, worldly friend- 
 ship — To be happy a man must be 
 active. " Again on the 23rd. of May, 
 1799, only four days before his departure 
 from England, he thus contemplates the 
 great work that lay before him, and so- 
 licits the prayers of his friends for that 
 divine aid, of the need of which he was 
 ever most deeply sensible. 
 
 '' We are now waiting with impatience 
 for the word of command, that we may 
 march against the grand enemy of souls 
 to the plains of Hindoostan. There is his 
 strongest fortress, and there are his strong 
 holds. While we attempt to make use 
 of the sword of the Spirit, I hope you 
 will not be deficient in lifting up the 
 hand of prayer, that the Amalekites may 
 be driven out of the land. Did you 
 ever pray for your friend ? now he stands 
 
66 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 more than ever in need of your most 
 fervent petitions. Do you love your 
 Saviour ? O let the prayer be. Thy ki72g- 
 dojii come, thy ivill be done on earth, as it 
 is done in heaven. Do you love the hea- 
 then ? let the prayer be, Let the ivicked- 
 7iess of the loicked come to an end. Do you 
 love me ? pray, that the grace of Christ 
 maybe sufficient for me, and that his 
 strength may be perfected in my weak- 
 ness. " 
 
 He embarked for India on board the 
 Criterion, Captain Wickes commander, 
 on the 24th of May, 1799, in company 
 with Mr. Brunsdon, Mr. Grant, and Mr. 
 now Dr. Marshman, and on the 27th of 
 the same month they set sail from 
 Gravesend. Writing to his friend just 
 after they had gone on board the vessel, 
 he says ; 
 
 * ' We have just taken leave of our friends 
 with the tenderest emotions. They have 
 poured blessings on our heads, following 
 
MR. WILLIAM WARD. 67 
 
 US with their prayers and their tears, and 
 heaping on us presents of every kind. 
 We are now in our little cabin, and I 
 snatch a moment from the hurry, to assure 
 you of my unceasing regard, and to bid 
 you a parting adieu. May the Lord 
 bless you — He, who is the proprietor of 
 all worlds and the fountain of all good — 
 who holds the keys of hell and of heaven 
 — whose government and blessedness are 
 unbounded as his own eternity. May 
 he keep you from that gilded piece of 
 dirt — the world — and may you be evi- 
 dently and eminently his. Oh labour 
 after — stretch every nerve for commu- 
 nion with himself. This will be an ab- 
 solute specific for all doubts and fears ; 
 and the Lord shall bless you and make 
 you a blessing. These, my dear friend, 
 are perhaps my last words to you ; I am 
 persuaded, they will be felt true in dying 
 moments. By all the doubts and fears, 
 by all the darkness attending a loose 
 
MEMOIRS CF 
 
 profession, (I mean a being content 
 without living in communion with God,) 
 I entreat you to walk closely and hum- 
 bly with him. 
 
 ** Your's in both worlds, 
 
 W. Ward." 
 
MR. WILLIAM WARD. 09 
 
 CHAP. III. 
 
 Including the period from Mr. Ward's embarking 
 for India, to his visit to England in the yearlQW. 
 
 That vast portion of the globe, called 
 India, is remarkable for an immense po- 
 pulation, exhibiting for many centuries, 
 a striking similarity in manners and in- 
 stitutions. While other nations have 
 undergone so many changes, as nearly 
 to have lost all traces of their earliest 
 origin, the natives of Hindoostan still re- 
 tain the customs, that distinguished their 
 ancestors three thousand years ago ; so 
 that, while amongst them, you may 
 readily fancy yourself transported to the 
 age, in which Alexander carried his 
 conquering arms across the Hydaspes, 
 and boasted the subjugation of a coun- 
 try, the distant fame of which had reach- 
 ed the ears of the western world, but 
 
70 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 which few had ever penetrated. The 
 principal, if not the only cause of this 
 wonderful identity, maybe ascribed to the 
 genius of their religion, a system, which 
 perhaps has the fairest claim to be ac- 
 counted the most ancient of all the pagan 
 idolatries, Egypt and China not excepted. 
 The leading feature of this system, which 
 has been originated in it, and is suppor- 
 ted by its authority, is, an institution, 
 which fixes every man in the estate, in 
 which he has been born, and while it 
 precludes the possibility of advancement, 
 deprives the human mind of one of its 
 greatest motives to improvement. A 
 Hindoo of the lowest rank can never 
 hope to rise ; talents, however great, ac- 
 quirements, however extensive, avail 
 him nothing in this respect ; and as the 
 rank and the occupation are united in 
 the laws of their casts, it too often hap- 
 pens, that natural genius is stunted in 
 its growth and literature, the nurse of 
 
MR. WILLIAM WARD. 71 
 
 genius is monopolized by the happy few, 
 who, by the privilege of birth are per- 
 mitted to cultivate it. The Sooder, born 
 to labour, dares not lift his thoughts 
 above his menial services ; commerce oc- 
 cupies exclusively those, whose cast has 
 made them merchants ; the military have 
 the sole directions of the affairs of war ; 
 while the haughty Brahmin looks down 
 upon them all, because to him alone, the 
 paths of philosophy and science lie 
 open. 
 
 The greatest evil, however, of this 
 system is, that it utterly forbids religious 
 improvement ; the cast is a chain, that 
 binds them irrevocably to the religion, 
 that has been handed down to them by 
 their ancestors ; it is associated with all 
 its ceremonies, and any change in their 
 religion, especially if it bring with it a 
 communication with European manners 
 and customs, involves them in the loss 
 of their cast, and they sink to the lowest 
 
72 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 state of degradation. Hence it becomes 
 a most formidable barrier to a Christian 
 Missionary; not even that martyrdom, 
 which in some ages of the church, has 
 been a necessary consequence of a pro- 
 fession of the Truth, could operate 
 more powerfully, than does this dread of 
 becoming the very outcasts of society ; 
 and the mercenary priest, sensible, that 
 this is the strongest bond that confirms his 
 yoke, rivets the chain by exhibiting these 
 terrors in their most dreadful aspect. Nor 
 is it from his nominally Christian brethren 
 in these countries, that the Missionary 
 can expect any assistance in his attempts 
 to break this dreadful bondage ; these, 
 drawn thither solely by motives of 
 worldly gain, caring little for the souls of 
 their fellow creatures, so that their 
 bodily energies are rendered subservient 
 to their riches and aggrandisement, have 
 found, or fancied they have found, a thou- 
 sand nameless, formless dangers in any 
 
MR. WILLIAM WARD. 73 
 
 attempt to convince the minds of the 
 natives of the evils connected with their 
 established institutions. 
 
 On this account, and judging under 
 the influence of these prejudices, they 
 have represented the manners of the 
 people as the very model of simpli- 
 city and gentleness, and even their 
 besotted and cruel idolatry has had 
 its apologists, who have descanted 
 upon its hidden meaning, discover- 
 ed in it all the great truths of divine 
 revelation, and sunk all its real and pre- 
 sent evils in the reverence that they 
 have claimed for its high antiquity. In 
 too many instances, also, they have found, 
 that they could levy a tribute upon the 
 people, for permission to observe their 
 most degrading ceremonies, and make 
 superstition itself a source of abundant 
 revenue ; it is, therefore, natural to sup- 
 pose, that they would regard with 
 jealousy the endeavours of any to dissi- 
 
 E 
 
74 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 pate the ignorance by means of which 
 it reigned. 
 
 Few of these benevolent attempts had 
 indeed been made, previously to the 
 latter end of the last century : the So- 
 ciety for promoting Christian Knowledge, 
 had sent out, and supported two or three 
 missionaries; but these were mostly 
 Danes, and they laboured in Danish co- 
 lonies, and under Danish protection. 
 About the year 1792, the attention of 
 some few individuals seems to have been 
 directed to the state of the natives in the 
 British possessions ; the solitary and pa- 
 tient endeavours of the late Mr. Thomas, 
 in communicating Christian instruction, 
 whenever his professional duties, as a 
 surgeon, opened a door for it, led to the 
 establishment of the Baptist Missionary 
 Society ; and subsequently the London 
 Missionary Society, and the Church of 
 England Missionary Society turned their 
 operations to the same extensive field. 
 
MR. WILLIAM WARD. 75 
 
 The precious seed for a long time ap- 
 peared to be sown in vain, or rather lay 
 buried beneath the ignorance which it 
 attempted to displace ; but at length the 
 divine blessing seemed to descend on it ; 
 in a few hearts it began to produce some 
 fruit, and their superstitious prejudices 
 appeared to give way. To these eifects 
 the labours of another venerable mis- 
 sionary. Dr. Carey, greatly contributed : 
 highly gifted for the work, and acting 
 on the principle of his own exhortations, 
 previous to his going to India, to attempt 
 great things for God, and expect great 
 thi?igs from God, he conceived the de- 
 sign of translating the Holy Scriptures 
 into the different languages of the East, 
 and set himself sedulously to execute it. 
 While thus engaged, and long before any 
 complete copy of the Scriptures could be 
 furnished, he published and distributed 
 short extracts from them, and these be- 
 gan to open the eyes of a few to the 
 E 2 
 
76 MEMOIRS OP 
 
 vanity of their idol worship, and to lead 
 them to seek after the living God. The 
 prospect seemed so encouraging, that 
 these v^orthy men began to call for more 
 labourers to assist them, and the Society, 
 that patronized them, sent out another 
 missionary in the year 1796, and not 
 long after Mr. Ward and his companions 
 sailed to join them. 
 
 Already had the cold spirit of com- 
 mercial speculation viewed the progress 
 of divine truth with distrust, and this 
 accession to the ranks of its supporters 
 served to excite its utmost malignity. 
 Attempts were made to persuade the 
 ruling powers, that it was dangerous 
 thus to interfere with the religion of the 
 natives ; and for a time they proved but 
 too successful. When, after a favour- 
 able voyage of twenty weeks, Mr. Ward 
 arrived off Calcutta, he and his compa- 
 nions were prevented from settling there 
 by an order from the Government, and 
 
MR. WILLIAM WARD. 77 
 
 obliged to land at Serampore, a Danish 
 settlement, about eighteen miles farther 
 up the river. Here they met with a kind 
 reception from the Governor, and Dr. 
 Carey finding that they could not be 
 permitted to join him, relinquished an 
 indigo factory, which he had engaged in 
 Mudnabatty, in the interior of the 
 country, and removed to Serampore, 
 where he found he could more freely and 
 effectually prosecute the gre?t object he 
 had at heart, the translation and pub- 
 lishing of the Scriptures. Mr. Thomas 
 continued his labours near Dinagepore, 
 with occasional excursions, until his 
 death, which took place in the year 
 1801, on the 13th of October. 
 
 Mr. Ward and his companions were 
 highly favoured in the captain, with 
 w^hom they sailed : he was a truly pious 
 man, a member of a Christian church in 
 Philadelphia, United States, and had 
 often, it seems, felt a wish that, in the 
 E 3 
 
78 MExAIOlRS OF 
 
 course of his business, he might be called 
 to convey some of the messengers of 
 peace to the heathen ; and he rejoiced, 
 that the Lord had granted him his de- 
 sire. He did all in his power to contri- 
 bute to the comfort of the Missionaries, 
 and so strong was their sense of his al- 
 most fatherly kindness, that they unit- 
 edly sent him a letter of thanks on their 
 arrival in India. It may naturally be 
 supposed, that under such a commander 
 they experienced no restriction in their 
 religious exercises ; on the contrary, he 
 was ever ready to unite with them in the 
 worship of God, and gave them every 
 opportunity of speaking to, and in- 
 structing his crew. During the whole 
 of the voyage they had preaching on 
 deck on the Lord's days, and the regular 
 morning and evening devotion, in which 
 the captain joined ; nor were they with- 
 out some reason to hope, that some of 
 the sailors had felt the power of the word 
 
MR. WILLIAM WARD. 79 
 
 of truth, the saving energy of the Spirit 
 of grace. *' After the cook had read," 
 says Mr. W. in one part of his journal, 
 ** he listened attentively to the news of 
 pardon— heaven — hell. I still hope some 
 one or more may bless God in the eternal 
 hallelujahs for the Criterion. Two of 
 the sailors, Spencer and Lewis, wor- 
 shipped with us in our room to-night. 
 The latter says, he deserves hell — that 
 he is very uneasy — and that those words 
 in the life of Colonel Gardiner, ' Sinner, 
 have I suffered all this,' &c. struck him 
 very much." Speaking of their good 
 captain he says, in another place, ** This 
 evening we had a most precious hour at 
 prayer. Captain Wickes read from the 
 twelfth verse of the thirty-third chapter 
 of Exodus, and then joined in prayer. 
 Our hearts were all w^armed. We shook 
 hands with our dear captain, and could 
 have clasped him to our bosoms. With 
 what affection did he pray for us — for 
 E 4 
 
80 MEMOIRS GF 
 
 our missionary success — for every thing 
 we could wish in our circumstances. 
 The chapter was selected by himself, 
 and was peculiarly applicable." 
 
 On reaching the scene of his future 
 labours, Mr. Ward appears to have been 
 deeply affected with the state of the 
 people around ; like the great Apostle of 
 the Gentiles, " his spirit was stirred 
 within him, when he beheld the nations 
 Avhoily given up to idolatry." His zeal 
 was not a sudden flame, kindled by the 
 excitement of a missionary meeting and 
 damped by the first appearance of actual 
 labour and difficulty ; it was the steady 
 fire that consumed him, roused by the 
 calm survey of the v/ork that lay before 
 him — fed by the deliberate calculation 
 of its difficulties — and gathering new 
 strength, as those difficulties thickened. 
 Of the depth and fervour of his feelings 
 some idea may be formed from the fol- 
 lowing extract from one of his letters. 
 
MR. WILLIAxAI WARD. 81 
 
 written not many days after his arrival 
 in India. 
 
 *' Serampore, October 22, 1799. 
 
 '' Last night I went with a native a 
 walk in the town. In our way he took 
 me to the hut of a Portuguese ; I there 
 found an old man of 73, stretched on his 
 bed and calling on the name of Jesus. 
 He spoke of his dolorous suffering, his 
 precious blood, &c. I did not obtain 
 satisfaction respecting his real Chris- 
 tianity; but the name of Jesus on the 
 tongue of a copper coloured man here, 
 is like the unexpected meeting of a 
 friend. We went forward in our walk 
 and came to a place in the open air, 
 wdiere the natives were assembled to 
 worship their God, Ram, whose history is 
 too long for me to write here. In this 
 worship the priest stood in the midst of 
 a number of natives, who sat on the 
 grass. He had a kind of brush in one 
 E 5 
 
S2 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 hand made of Buffalo's hair, and in the 
 other two pieces of brass, which sounded 
 like bells by the shaking of his hands. 
 His face was painted, and he had round 
 his neck two or three chains made of 
 shells, &c. During very short intervals 
 of singing by five young men standing 
 at his back, he spoke two or three sen- 
 tences to his hearers, exhorting them to 
 repeat the name of Raniy and to avoid 
 that which was bad. Some of the na- 
 tives were at work making nets, while 
 they professed to be worshipping their 
 God. On our return home, I saw a 
 man making clay Gods, though he is by 
 trade a washerman. In this settlement, 
 which contains perhaps not more than 
 3000 inhabitants, there are not less, I 
 suppose, than fifty houses inhabited by 
 prostitutes, though the Hindoos marry 
 very young. I would rather be here 
 to dedicate my life to the conversion of 
 the Hindoos, than in any other place in 
 the world. 
 
MR. WILLIAM WARD. S3 
 
 ** After entering the Bay of Bengal, 
 brother Brunsdon and I went on shore 
 at a time, when the ship lay at anchor 
 waiting for the tide. The natives ac- 
 companied us in our walk; our looks, 
 our questions, our affability pleased 
 them. We were not permitted to enter 
 their pagoda, or idol temple, but in our 
 walk we saw, on a small rising ground, 
 three stones in a rough state laid to- 
 gether, with a little paint on them, and 
 several bits of stick in the shape of dogs„ 
 I approached it to examine ; the natives 
 lifted up their hands to warn me, that I 
 was treading on forbidden ground. I 
 retired, when they bowed their heads to 
 the ground towards it and said it was 
 their God. So paltry a God I never 
 saw before ! 
 
 *' We are all happy and have no de- 
 sire to come to England. God will pro- 
 vide for us, and sooner or later India 
 shall learn the doctrine of the cross, and 
 
84' MEMOIRS OF 
 
 sing the song of Moses and the Lamb. 
 I have no doubt of it. Their supersti- 
 tions are sinking into oblivion very fast 
 even without the torch of truth; but 
 with a Bible and a Press, posterity will 
 see, that a missionary will not labour in 
 vain even in India. There is ' a time to 
 break down, and a time to sow, and a 
 time to reap. 
 
 '' My dear friend, live near to God ; 
 this is the philosopher's stone, that turns 
 every thing into gold. I often think of 
 you walking and praying — Yes, the hour 
 approaches, when we shall walk to- 
 gether, 
 
 ' High in salvation and the climes of bliss.' 
 
 Your's &c. 
 
 W. Ward. " 
 
MR. WILLIAM WARD. B5 
 
 As lie became more acquainted with 
 the character and state of the people, 
 among whom he was called to labour, 
 he was more deeply convinced of their 
 gross ignorance and superstition, and of 
 the baleful influence of these upon their 
 moral condition and conduct. He be- 
 held instead of the vaunted meekness 
 and simplicity of the Hindoo character 
 which has been the subject of so much 
 eulogium, and almost an object of envy 
 among the modern philosophers, the 
 manifestations of deceit, treachery, covet- 
 ousness, and the most abandoned profli- 
 gacy ; their religion itself sanctioning, 
 by many of its ceremonies as well as its 
 doctrines, the most unbridled indulgence 
 of the sensual passions. Yet, while 
 many of the same persons, who extol 
 the mild virtues of the heathens, in order 
 to oppose the efl'orts made to evangelize 
 them, with a capricious versatility, but 
 too common with the infidel impugners 
 
86 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 of Divine Truth, treated these efforts as 
 chimerical ; he had too much confidence 
 in the power of the Gospel to despair of 
 its finally triumphing over every oppo- 
 sition. A heartfelt sense of the impor- 
 tance of real religion prepared him to 
 encounter with equal courage the tem- 
 porizing spirit of worldly prudence, which 
 stigmatizes Christian zeal with the name 
 of rashness, and the taunts of the decided 
 unbeliever, who brands it as nothing less 
 than fanaticism. In writing to another 
 of his friends, he thus describes the state 
 of the vast population around him, and 
 the confidence of his mind in the vocation 
 he had chosen, and the certainty of its 
 ultimate success — 
 
 September 20th, 1800. 
 " We talk of the Divine presence as 
 more desirable than all the beauties of 
 nature and of art, and are ready to envy 
 those, who made an utter renunciation 
 of the world for the sake of a good con- 
 
MR. WILLIAM WARD. 87 
 
 science ; who wandered about in sheepskins 
 and goatskins, having no certain dwelling 
 place, being destitute, afflicted, tormented : 
 I say, we are ready to envy, — and yet I 
 imagine, some of my friends wonder^ 
 that I should renounce my friends and 
 country for India. They can scarcely 
 separate the idea of rashness from such 
 a course. Let us, however, believe our 
 thoughts, when they are in the best 
 frame, and not when they are filled with 
 the world. We think experience ought 
 to speak. Let us go to that death-bed, 
 and listen to the accents of that dying 
 father, who is employing his last breath 
 in lisping in the ears of his son ; '* the 
 world's all title page." Remember this, 
 my dear friend ; if we are the faithful 
 friends of the world, we are the enemies 
 of God. In what does your religion 
 consist ? in the performance of certain 
 duties, or in the love and service of the 
 heart? If men were to cut out your 
 
88 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 tongue, and separate you from your fa- 
 mily, the church and your connexions, 
 would the best of your religion still exist, 
 the service of the heart? I trust this 
 would be the case ; nevertheless, beware 
 of the world, — of a worldly spirit — of 
 worldly conversation — of worldly con- 
 nexions. Never be content unless the 
 prevailing bent of your minds be towards 
 God. Be not content with a merely de- 
 cent religion. Endeavour to form an 
 idea of God, as an amiable being, in con- 
 nexion with his unsullied justice and 
 hatred of sin. — Delight thyself in the 
 Lord, 
 
 '' You will expect me to say something 
 of what we are doing, and in fact what 
 sort of a place we are in ; and yet I 
 know not, that I can say any more than I 
 have said to others. Here are priests 
 by thousands, but they never preach or 
 instruct their flocks, except in a few 
 ceremonies. Here are temples by thou- 
 
MR. WILLIAM WARD. 89 
 
 sands, Mussulman and Hindoo ; but the 
 praises of God are never heard in them. 
 Here are plenty of doctrines, but none 
 of them mend the heart, or in fact touch 
 it. The three great doctrines, which 
 make such havock of souls in Europe, 
 are universally prevalent here. Both 
 Mussulmans and Hindoos believe, that 
 punishment in hell is temporary, not 
 eternal; there is not a man therefore, 
 that cares about future punishment. An- 
 tinomianism is universal. With them 
 it is the easiest matter in the world for 
 God to pardon or pass over sin. Crimes 
 indeed are necessary, they say, and God 
 himself is the author of sin. Deism is, 
 I believe, very prevalent, especially 
 among the most refined of the Mussul- 
 mans, and almost every European in the 
 public service is a Deist. 
 
 *' The corruption of manners amongst 
 all is dreadful. Instead of Hindoos 
 being that innocent people, which some 
 
90 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 have pretended, they are perhaps as dis- 
 solute as any people on earth, though 
 there is nothing ferocious in their man- 
 ners. If any one wishes to see the 
 meaning of the apostle's words to the 
 Ephesians, without hope, and ivithout God 
 in the world, let him come hither. The 
 baseness and degradation of the people 
 is so great, that many Europeans laugh 
 at us for thinking of their conversion. 
 It is almost the universal opinion among 
 Europeans here, that our design is ut- 
 terly chimerical. Here, then, what tri- 
 umphs will there be for divine grace! 
 It is reserved for the latter days, and for. 
 the final triumphs of the Lamb, that 
 Hindoos will be gathered in ; as the 
 thief and Jerusalem sinners were among 
 his first triumphs. Doubt not, that our 
 Saviour vv^ill certainly famish all these 
 Gods, and lay them prostrate in the dust. 
 
 Yours, 
 W. Ward." 
 
MR. WILLIAM WARD. 91 
 
 From this period the history of Mr, 
 Ward is much connected, if not identified 
 with that of the Baptist Mission, the 
 details of which are to be found in the 
 interesting publications of the Society ; 
 we shall, therefore, take a rather rapid 
 survey of some of the principal events, 
 furnishing extracts at intervals from his 
 letters to his friends. The ranks of the 
 missionaries appeared to be well re- 
 cruited by the accession of Mr. W. and his 
 companions, and from their known piety 
 and other qualifications, considerable 
 hopes were entertained, that some im- 
 pression would soon be made on the 
 kingdom of darkness ; it pleased the 
 allwise Head of the Church, however, 
 who carries on his designs according to 
 his own will, to reduce their numbers, 
 till, like Gideon s army, they again be- 
 came a feeble band. Mr. Grant died 
 about a fortnight after their arrival, 
 bearing as pleasing a testimony to the 
 
92 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 truth, as the nature of his complaint, 
 which rendered him too weak to utter 
 a word towards the last, would admit ; 
 a year had not elapsed, ere Mr. Fountain 
 finished his course, rejoicing in the great 
 salvation, which he had not long com- 
 menced preaching to the benighted Hin- 
 doos ; and in less than another year Mr. 
 Brunsdon was called to enter into his 
 rest, each of them leaving a widow and 
 child to lament his loss. These re- 
 peated strokes of Divine Providence 
 tended much to depress their spirits ; 
 but that confidence in the Lord, which 
 had led them to embark in this great 
 cause, preserved them from despondency ; 
 they were taught more the importance 
 of living by faith, and stimulated to 
 more zealous and diligent exertion. Some 
 judgment of their feelings may be formed 
 by the following extract from a letter to a 
 friend, written in the midst of these af- 
 flictions. 
 
MR. WILLIAM WARD. 93 
 
 Calcutta, March 24, 1801. * 
 
 *' I am this moment sitting up with 
 brother Brunsdon at this place, whither 
 he has been removed for medical as- 
 sistance. I think he is not likely to 
 survive many days. I fear these re- 
 peated strokes of Providence may dis- 
 courage some : yet we are not in despair 
 — not one of us — not even our v^ddowed 
 sisters. Sister B. enjoys a happy degree 
 of tranquillity, though very near her lying- 
 in, and her husband apparently dying. 
 God is all-sufficient! I do not think 
 the climate of Bengal is pernicious. 
 Brother Carey and others, think it more 
 healthful than that of England; and 
 perhaps it may be so, after a person has 
 been inured to it. The loss of brother 
 Brunsdon will be severely felt. Upon 
 the life of brother Marshman depends, 
 in some measure, half our support by the 
 
 * See Periodical accounts of the Baptist Mis- 
 sionary Society, vol. ii. p. 157. 
 
94 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 school. Upon the life of brotherCarey de- 
 pends the translation, and more than I can 
 describe. I am happy in thinking, that if 
 1 die, Felix Carey will be able to print. 
 But, I assure you, it cannot be conceived 
 how necessary we seem to each other. 
 Our love to one another grows exceed- 
 ingly, and every new death makes us 
 cling the closer." 
 
 In this lowly spirit did Mr. Ward es- 
 timate his own importance in the great 
 work of the Lord; thus was he ready, 
 according to the injunction of the 
 Apostle, to esteem others better than him- 
 self ; his brethren, however, did not so 
 undervalue him ; in their view, the sta- 
 tion he occupied was second only to that 
 of the venerable Dr. Carey himself. He 
 continued to fill the post and discharge 
 the duties of superintendant of the Mis- 
 sion press, with very little interruption, 
 until the time of his departure into Eng- 
 land, and had resumed his official la- 
 
MR. WILLIAM WARD. 95 
 
 bours in this department with renewed 
 zeal and diligence, when he was called 
 to enter into his rest ; and though taken 
 away in the midst of his usefulness, he 
 had the satisfaction (and we can scarcely 
 conceive a greater,) of carrying through 
 the press not less than twenty translations 
 of the Holy Scriptures into the lan- 
 guages of the East. It is probably to 
 the research into the oriental languasfes 
 and manners, necessarily connected with 
 such an occupation, that we are indebted 
 for his principal work, of which we shall 
 speak hereafter, and which is a suffi- 
 cient monument of his indefatigable in- 
 dustry.* For though his close, and 
 almost constant attention to the press 
 engrossed the far greater proportion of 
 his time, yet he never forgot his im- 
 portant and high calling, as a missionary, 
 to preach the gospel of Christ. He 
 took his turn in all engagements of this 
 
 * See Chapter v. 
 
96 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 kind in the neighbouring places, and 
 frequently made tours into the interior, 
 for the purpose of publishing the glad 
 tidings of salvation. 
 
 Undertakings so arduous required 
 much zeal and perseverance, and the 
 long period, that elapsed before any ap- 
 parent success crowned their efforts was 
 to Mr. W. and his companions a great 
 trial of their patience ; but the time was 
 now approaching, when they were to 
 reap a rich reward. After being once 
 and again disappointed in some, that 
 seemed ready to give up all for Christ, 
 but who could not abide the trial; in 
 the month of December, 1800, they 
 were gratified in beholding the first de- 
 cided convert to the faith, voluntarily 
 breaking his cast, and boldly encoun- 
 tering the reproach of Christ. On this 
 delightful occasion Kristno, a converted 
 native, was baptized together with Dr. 
 Carey's eldest son, after having a few 
 
MR. WILLIAM WARD. 97 
 
 days before publicly renounced cast by 
 eating with the missionaries. This event 
 rejoiced their hearts, and gave them re- 
 newed courage to pursue their high, but 
 difficult calling ; some of them had now 
 for years patiently waited and prayed for 
 this day ; some had entered into their 
 heavenly rest without the gratification 
 of beholding it, and one of them, who 
 hardly survived six months, was carried 
 in an emaciated state to witness a scene 
 so cheering to his soul, that he was al- 
 most ready to say with Simeon, '* Lord, 
 now lettest thou thy servant depart in 
 peace ; for mine eyes have seen thy sal- 
 vation."* Thus was one of the strong 
 holds of Satan broken down, and the 
 way opened for numerous accessions to 
 the church of Christ from this people, 
 hitherto entrenched in prejudices and 
 superstition, and impenetrable to all the 
 
 * Periodical Accounts, vol. ii. p. 123. 
 F 
 
98 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 convictions of divine truth and the 
 evidences of the gospel. Mr. Ward thus 
 speaks of this joyful event in his journal 
 v^ritten at the time. 
 
 '' December 32. This day Gokool and 
 Krishno came to eat tiffin (vs^hat in 
 England is called luncheon) with us, 
 and thus publicly threw away their cast. 
 Brethren Carey and Thomas went to 
 prayer with the two natives, before they 
 proceeded to this act. All our servants 
 were astonished : so many had said, that 
 nobody would ever mind Christ, or lose 
 cast. Brother T. has waited fifteen years, 
 and thrown away much time upon de- 
 ceitful characters; brother C. has waited, 
 till hope of his own success has almost 
 expired : and after all, God has done it 
 with perfect ease. Thus the door of 
 faith is opened to the Gentiles; who 
 shall shut it ? the chain of the cast is 
 broken ; who shall mend it ? 
 
MR. WILLIAM WARD. 99 
 
 The cast once broken, much attention 
 was of course excited to that, which had 
 occasioned so wonderful an event; the 
 missionaries received numerous visits 
 from enquirers ; one of these, who had 
 given up his cast, was baptized on the 
 28th of December 1800, and during the 
 next three months three women, having 
 given satisfactory evidence of their con- 
 version, were baptized and united to the 
 church. Several more weie added to 
 them during the year, and Mr. Thomas, 
 the oldest of the missionaries, had the 
 high gratification of seeing before his 
 decease the fruit of his patient and in- 
 defatigable labours ; having been, it is 
 supposed, the means under God of 
 bringing Krishno, the first that was 
 baptized, to the knowledge of the truth. 
 Nor was this the only pleasure these 
 men of God were to experience ; the 
 first of the native converts, and another, 
 who was baptized in January 1802, ap- 
 f2 
 
00 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 pearing to possess gifts for preaching 
 the gospel, were, after due trial and 
 deliberation, called to the ministry. This 
 employment of natives in preaching to 
 their countrymen, forms an important 
 epoch in the history of the Mission, not 
 only as it is the most efficient means of 
 widely disseminating the word of life, 
 but as it has proved, and will prove more 
 abundantly, the harbinger of a large in- 
 gathering of souls to the Saviour's king- 
 dom. Since that time the number of 
 these preachers has greatly increased, 
 and the consequence has been, that the 
 little church first planted at Serampore 
 has not only struck its roots deeply and 
 grown exceedingly; but it has spread 
 forth its branches in every direction, over 
 the country, till not fewer than 26 sta- 
 tions and churches have arisen, to be, we 
 trust, the parent stocks of a numerous 
 and widely spreading offspring, until this 
 once moral wilderness shall become a 
 
MR. WILLIAM WARD. lOi 
 
 fruitful field. Mr. Ward gives the fol- 
 lowing short, but interesting account of 
 the first attempt of a Hindoo to preach 
 the gospel to his countrymen. 
 
 * *' March 6, 1803. In the evening 
 brother Carey gave out a hymn, and 
 read a chapter, after which old Petumber 
 preached in Bengalee to a congregation 
 of Hindoos, Mussulmans, Armenians, 
 Feringahs, English, &c. His text was a 
 small pamphlet of his own writing, 
 which we printed for him. After praying 
 a short time with fervour and consis- 
 tency, he sat down, and with his hands 
 joined together and stretched out, he 
 craved their attention. He then spoke 
 for an hour with faithfulness and much 
 propriety, and closed the whole with 
 prayer. We were much pleased with 
 this first attempt. He is the first Hin- 
 doo, who has become a preacher. This 
 
 * Periodical -Accounts Vol. ii. p. 370. 
 F 3 
 
102 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 is another new era in the Mission, for 
 which we have reason to bless God : oh, 
 that he may increase the number of 
 faithful native labourers ! This is the 
 grand desideratum, that is to move the 
 Hindoo nation." 
 
 Mr. Ward felt a lively interest in these 
 occurrences ; the more so, as, towards 
 the latter part of the period, to which 
 we are referring, he began to take an 
 active part in preaching to the people. 
 For some time after his arrival in India, 
 his exertions had been nearly confined 
 to the superintendence of the press, and 
 the English preaching and other religious 
 exercises of the family, occasionally ac- 
 companying his elder brethren in their 
 excursions ; but having now made him- 
 self master of the language of the natives, 
 we find him frequently addressing them, 
 and holding interesting conversations 
 with them, pointing out the vanity of 
 trusting to their gods, and directing 
 
MR. WILLIAM WARD. 103 
 
 them to the Saviour— in this work he 
 delighted, and nothing could have recon- 
 ciled his mind to the devoting of so 
 much of his time to the labours of the 
 printing office, but the firm conviction, 
 that he was contributing to the great 
 work of laying a foundation for the 
 efforts of missionaries in ages to come. 
 He preaches the gospel who scatter 
 
 seed. tHi^^ ^"-^^ +1^^ *——--- ^ '^ 
 
 attached to it ; but he who gives a Bible, 
 
 and especially a translation of it into a 
 new language, furnishes seed for the 
 sower, that will yield an abundant har- 
 vest of spiritual blessings to the latest 
 period of time. Impressed with this 
 conviction, belaboured with indefatigable 
 ardour in this great work, and embraced 
 every opportunity of publishing the 
 glad tidings both in the neighbouring 
 villages, at Calcutta, and in more dis- 
 tant parts. His labours appear to have 
 been much blessed ; even as early as the 
 F 4 
 
104 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 month of November 1800, he writes in 
 these encouraging terms of what was 
 passing in the family and the church, 
 hinting likewise at the great prospect of 
 usefulness from the translation and print- 
 ing of the Bengalee New Testament, 
 which was then nearly accomplished. 
 
 '' I begin to smatter a little Bengalee. 
 God, I hope, has blessed my labours to 
 
 fK^ -^>^^T¥^rqion of Mr. Carev's too eldest 
 sons, and towards the close of January, 
 
 I expect we shall be joined by 2000 
 more missionaries, of whose success I 
 dare not indulge the least doubt. In a 
 few weeks I hope we shall have to bap- 
 tize four persons, a native, Mr. Carey's 
 two sons and Mr. Fernandez. The 
 native has been raised up under the mi- 
 nistry of Mr. Thomas, and has been in 
 his service twelve months. He renounces 
 cast, preaches Christ, and appears to be 
 truly converted. Felix Carey has be- 
 gun to preach, having known the Ian- 
 
MR. WILLIAM WARD. 105 
 
 guage from his youth. I hope he wil I 
 make a useful missionary ; I bestow 
 much labour upon him for this purpose." 
 
 From this period the progress of the 
 gospel seems to have been sure, though 
 gradual ; and the labours of Mr. Ward 
 and his brethren appear to have excited 
 much attention, and brought many to en- 
 quire after the way of truth. Scarcely 
 a day passed without calls from some 
 of the natives, and opportunities of dis- 
 tributing the scriptures ; and these cir- 
 cumstances added much to the happiness 
 of the little missionary family, as will be 
 seen by an extract from one of Mr. W's 
 letters, dated Serampore, January 16th, 
 1802. 
 
 *' I have hitherto enjoyed uninterrupted 
 health and good spirits. With my dear 
 brethren Carey and Marshman I live in 
 the closest friendship ; we are altogether 
 a happy family, considering our bereave- 
 ments. All our real wants are abun- 
 dantly supplied. 
 
 F 5 
 
106 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 '' I have acquainted you with the bap- 
 tism of five natives, I think ; the sixth I 
 baptized a few months ago. Respecting 
 the seventh, a man of the Writer cast, I 
 believe you will be pleased with hearing 
 his history. Two or three months since 
 I accompained Mr. Short, a gentleman 
 who married Mrs. Carey's sister, in a 
 journey for his health on the river; we 
 were out about a fortnight. In that 
 time a native brother and I delivered the 
 gospel message in many places, where 
 the people sat in death's cold shade ; 
 we also distributed more than a thou- 
 sand small pamphlets. One of these 
 happened to fall into the hands of a 
 man, whom we did not perceive. He 
 read it with attention, and was convinced, 
 that it unfolded to him the true way of 
 salvation ; he had sought the true way of 
 life many years in vain. The universal 
 wickedness of the Hindoo teachers con- 
 vinced him, that they had not found the 
 way of life. As soon, therefore, as he 
 
MR. WILLIAM WARD. 107 
 
 saw this paper and the word Serampore 
 upon it, he resolved to find our house. 
 He came from a distance of about thirty 
 miles. His mind was confirmed in the 
 truth. He returned for a few days to 
 his house to acquaint his friends. After 
 he came back he gave a very satisfactory 
 account before the church, and on the 
 first Lord's day in the year, he was bap- 
 tized by brother Carey in the river op- 
 posite our house, in the presence of a 
 number of Europeans, Portuguese Chris- 
 tians, Hindoos, Mussulmans, and one 
 Armenian. We have made him our na- 
 tive schoolmaster, and we hope to find in 
 him, what we have long wished for, a 
 christian schoolmaster from among the 
 natives. Another man and his son give 
 us hopes of being baptized shortly. 
 Many enquire, some from corrupt mo- 
 tives, and some, we hope, with a view 
 to eternity. Scarcely a day passes, but 
 one or other comes to get a New Testa- 
 ment, or some pamphlets. 
 
108 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 ** A few young gentlemen amongst 
 the Europeans at Calcutta, appear truly 
 with their faces towards heaven. Upon 
 the whole, the state of religion in Ben- 
 gal is such, as to give hope, that God is 
 on his way to send the idols of the Hin- 
 doos to the moles and to the batsT 
 
 The year 1802 was remarkable not 
 only for the accession of several more 
 native converts to the little church at 
 Serampore, but for an event which 
 forms an epoch in the life of Mr. Ward, 
 as it does in that of every other indi- 
 vidual. This was his marriage with 
 Mrs. Fountain, which took place on 
 Monday, the 10th of May. They were 
 both single, when they went out to 
 India; but she had gone with the de- 
 sign of being united to Mr. Fountain, 
 to whom she had been attached previ- 
 ously to his engaging as a missionary ; 
 this union had not been consummated 
 many months, when Mr. F. was called 
 
MR. WILLIAM WARD. 109 
 
 to finish his course, leaving his widow 
 to lament her afflicting bereavement. 
 He died on the 20th of August 1800, and 
 not long after his son John Fountain 
 was born, '' a fatherless child in a 
 strange land." He, however, who is the 
 father of the fatherless, and the judge of 
 the widoiv, interposed for them, and rai- 
 sed up in Mr. Ward an affectionate 
 protector and a tender parent, one who 
 was not governed by mere carnal con- 
 siderations, but who felt all the respon- 
 sibility of the situation, in which he was 
 placed. In the prospect of receiving an 
 increase to his family some time after 
 this, he writes thus : 
 
 '' I hope to have a little one soon. I 
 know not, whether I feel as others on 
 this subject, but I scarcely ever think 
 of having a child of my own, without 
 immediately fixing my mind on its 
 eternal destiny. In w^"at world is it to 
 be fixed for ever ?" 
 
110 
 
 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 Oh ! that all parents, or those who 
 have the prospect of becoming parents, 
 were possessed with the same solemn 
 thoughts ! How empty would all the 
 temporal considerations, all the worldly- 
 projects, which fill the minds of so 
 many, be in the comparison ; and what 
 earnestness and faithfulness would be 
 manifested, in implanting in the youth- 
 ful mind those principles of pure and 
 undefiled religion, which alone will pro- 
 duce a blessed harvest for eternity. 
 Christian parents, never be for a moment 
 indifferent to this reflection, ' The being, 
 that I am rearing is immortal ; I am 
 sowing for eternity, and the fruits of all 
 my care and instruction, will spring up 
 in its everlasting weal or woe 1' 
 
 The marriage ceremony, which took 
 place at the mission house, was conduct- 
 ed with such primitive simplicity and 
 striking solemnity, that it merits a place 
 in these Memoirs. No vaulted chancel. 
 
MR, WILLIAM WARD. Ill 
 
 or consecrated altar, or priestly stole 
 could have added any thing to a scene so 
 truly patriarchal. The account is ex- 
 tracted from Mr. Ward's journal of this 
 period.* 
 
 '*May 10th. This evening sister 
 Fountain and I were married at our 
 house, in the presence of our Bengalee 
 friends and others. This connection 
 had been intended for some time, but 
 circumstances prevented. Brother Carey 
 introduced the business by a few words, 
 and read the marriage agreement. I 
 then took sister F. by the hand, and 
 walked up to the table, saying, 'We sign 
 this our solemn covenant to each other.' 
 We then signed it, and about a dozen 
 friends, European and Bengalee, added 
 their signatures. Brother Carey then 
 delivered a very appropriate address to 
 the parties on the duties of husband and 
 
 * Periodical Accounts, Vol. 11. p. 277. 
 
112 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 wife, and made a pleasing allusion to 
 our family situation, in which all per- 
 sonal interests are swallowed up in the 
 interest of the whole. A short prayer 
 concluded the service. I gave some 
 fruit and a few things of native manu- 
 facture amongst the native friends, and 
 thus the marriage was celebrated." 
 
 This union was the source of mutual 
 happiness and much domestic comfort 
 during rather more than twenty years, 
 when the mourning widow was called 
 to experience the pains of a second be- 
 reavement, more afflicting, if possible, 
 than the first, as long intercourse had 
 enabled her more fully to appreciate the 
 excellent qualities of her departed hus- 
 band. Mr. Ward had four children by 
 this marriage, who together with the son 
 of Mr. Fountain equally shared his 
 parental kindness ; two of them died 
 young, the others have given much plea- 
 sure to their parents by their obedient 
 
MR. WILLIAM WARD. 113 
 
 and towardly disposition, and the eldest 
 daughter exhibits considerable evidence 
 of her knowledge of the truth, and her 
 conversion to God, promising to be a 
 great support to her surviving parent, and 
 in disposition resembling her estimable 
 father.* 
 
 Though Mr. Ward's time was much 
 taken up by the chief employment, to 
 wliinh h(^ had devoted himself, that of 
 superintending the printing of the trans- 
 lations, and though he frequently 
 preached at Serampore, and the ad- 
 jacent places, occasionally taking a 
 wider circuit, and engaging in longer 
 excursions; yet he found leisure for a 
 tolerably extensive correspondence. His 
 journals were generally very copious, so 
 that one of his brethren acknowledges 
 to one of his correspondents, that bro- 
 
 * She has lately been united to the Church at 
 Serampore. 
 
114 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 ther Ward generally communicated all 
 the news. The following extract from 
 another of his private letters, furnishes a 
 tolerable view of the busy scenes of his 
 life, as well as of the natural activity of 
 his mind. 
 
 Serampore, March 16, 1803. 
 
 ''I received yours by the boxes a 
 short time since. I thank you for that 
 continual remembrance of me manifested 
 in it. I cannot think on all those marks 
 of friendship, and on all the pleasure 
 which I have had in your company, 
 without treasuring up your image in my 
 heart. No, my dear friend, my brother, 
 I can never forget you. I never can 
 think of you without feeling a desire to 
 be near you. Oh! that we may be 
 forming for that rational, sublime and 
 eternal friendship, which befits the pre- 
 sence of God above. Why are friends 
 severed ? Why are friendships mixed 
 
MR. WILLIAM WARD. 115 
 
 with SO many painful circumstances ? If 
 we are to die like the beasts, who can 
 answer these questions ? But if the 
 light, which exhibits life and immortality, 
 be the true light, and no delusive meteor, 
 then we have an answer to these momen- 
 tous enquiries — the house of friendship 
 and of love is above. Theij shall no more 
 go out — there shall be no more sorrow —nor 
 any more death. Delightful intelligence ! 
 '' Oh ! may we live to reach the place." 
 
 ** I rejoice in your domestic happiness, 
 Oh ! that G. maybe very useful to you 
 and make you very happy. I have 
 great hope of him, that he will turn out 
 well. I should like to have a race with 
 him round the table even now, for I am 
 still fond of children. 
 
 '' During the last year our family en- 
 joyed good health; we have been pre- 
 served very healthful and very happy. 
 I have had no interruption of my health 
 hitherto, nor my wife. I do not think 
 
116 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 Bengal is more unhealthy to the natives 
 than England to Englishmen, if so much. 
 If Europeans would keep to a simple 
 diet, and avoid the heat and the damp, I 
 cannot help thinking, they also would 
 be very healthy. 
 
 " I never was more full of business. 
 I am always in the office from morning 
 till night, with the exception of the 
 dinner and bathing hours. 
 
 " I hope the work of God is on the 
 increase amongst us ; we have baptized 
 three this year, and I suppose William 
 Carev will be baptized this m.onth. We 
 have received brother and sister Cham- 
 berlain by way of America, yet still we 
 seem as busy as ever. 
 
 ** I perceive G. G. preaches ; to what 
 extent? I think I should have liked 
 preaching in England, if I had not had 
 other work to do ; but I sometimes think 
 I should have killed myself. If I preach 
 half an hour here in a tolerably quiet 
 
MR. WILLIAM WARD. 117 
 
 way, I almost lose my voice. I can talk 
 in a plain way in Bengalee, but very 
 confined ; what is preaching without 
 figures, illustrations, and a liberty to 
 enlarge and press home truth? Yet I do 
 rejoice in my destination ; I know not 
 any place on earth, where I might be 
 more useful, if I had the piety of a 
 Pearce. I know I have an interest in 
 your prayers. The grace of our dear 
 Lord be with your spirit. 
 
 W. Ward." 
 
 In the month of May in the same year, 
 he writes in the same strain in a letter to 
 the author of these Memoirs ; and as that 
 letter is highly characteristic of the de- 
 votedness of his heart to the great work 
 of preaching the gospel, we cannot re- 
 sist the inclination to transcribe it, though 
 the greater part has already been laid 
 before the public. It was written to the 
 author while he was in Dublin. 
 
118 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 Serampore, May, 1803. 
 
 **Your's dated from Kettering, I 
 duly received by the boxes, and truly 
 thank you for it. Whatever delay may 
 attend your letters, 1 am thankful when 
 they do come, and should be happy if 
 they came oftener ; but you, who have to 
 preach three times a week, must have 
 your hands and your pen full. I have 
 scarcely any hopes of seeing you at Se- 
 rampore ; the total dislike of your friends 
 to it, and the openings to usefulness in 
 other places will, I suppose, keep you 
 safe at home. Well, my brother, I con- 
 fess I should have been very happy to 
 have seen you here, and I think you are 
 cut out for the situation, yet I hope God 
 may give you a full reward at home. 
 
 '' Let the example of Pearce in Dublin 
 be constantly before you ;— how he la- 
 boured there— how faithful he was to 
 fashionable professors— how anxious to 
 recommend private meetings, &c. Keep 
 
MR. WILLIAM WARD. 119 
 
 this constantly in mind . You may preach 
 twice a week, and have a great name 
 among certain kinds of Christians for 
 orthodoxy or oratory; but you are a mi- 
 nister of the gospel so far exactly, as 
 your zeal, your gifts, your efforts and 
 your conduct, are calculated to produce 
 the conversion of souls. For my part, I 
 set a very small value upon most mo- 
 dern doctrinal sermons and controver- 
 l sial writings ; and I think their value 
 'will be less appreciated, when Christians 
 see as they are see/i. I would not discard 
 controversy altogether; but I dislike 
 the devil (as the Hindoos would say) 
 in its belly ; and I fear very few contro- 
 versial writers could say, while they 
 were writing, 7iot I, but Christ that liveth 
 in me. I would not discard doctrinal 
 sermons; but I confess I have seen or 
 heard few, that had either a devotional 
 or a practical tendency; and that, in 
 which there is neither devotion nor 
 
120 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 practice, is rather worse than nothing. 
 I confess I am exceedingly guilty, that 
 I do not study my Bible more ; yet the 
 more I apply it to the tempers and con- 
 duct of sinners, of ministers and people, 
 and the more I see of what is in man 
 individually and collectively, the more I 
 am convinced of its infinite majesty, if I 
 may so speak, and of its being written 
 under the direction of that God, who 
 directs all his works to some valuable 
 and important end. To you, my bro- 
 ther, I write freely. To some persons 
 were I to write so, it would appear, per- 
 haps, too decisive and arrogant for a 
 young man ; but, my brother, let us 
 study to be useful. Every thing is valu- 
 able, as it will tell in another world ; se- 
 parate any thing from eternal duration, 
 call it by whatever name you please ; 
 is it popularity ? is it a clear head ? is 
 it tickling the ears of a thousand hearers 
 at once ? What is this ? Will it ever be 
 
MR. WILLIAM WARD. 121 
 
 mentioned in the long eternity of plea- 
 sure and praise, but as it stood connected 
 with this eternity ? Never ! There is a 
 going through the outward duties of the 
 Christian ministry with i^espectability ; 
 but being instant in season and out of season, 
 making frequent and general visits spi- 
 ritual, constantly devising something 
 for the good of the flock, raising their 
 zeal and efforts to the gospel standard, 
 drawing forth gifts, visiting, relieving 
 and comforting the sick, knowing the 
 spiritual condition of all the members, 
 carrying a warm and fervent spirit into 
 the pulpit, knowing no man after the 
 flesh, so as to excite jealousy by undue 
 partialities, condescending to the pre- 
 judices of the weakest of the flock ; — 
 many of these things may have little 
 outward show, but they are infinitely 
 more important to the conversion of souls, 
 than the best sermon that ever occupied 
 a week's study. — Study — yes, study to be 
 
 G 
 
122 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 quiet—but above all, study to get at the 
 affections, the consciences, and the false 
 refuges of sinners : — study to be useful 
 — then you will become a spiritual father, 
 when, to borrow the strong language of 
 the apostle, you labour in birth again, till 
 Christ is formed in the hearts of men, the 
 hope of Glory, If you become a useful, 
 you will first be (as the Puritans said) a 
 painful preacher of the gospel. You will 
 find, as I do, I suppose, that the greatest 
 obstructions to being fruitful, zealous 
 and savoury, are those which block up 
 the way of personal communion with 
 God — recollections when on the knees, 
 which stop the mouth of prayer, and fill 
 the heart with fear to call God our own 
 God, and our only portion. Oh ! it was 
 a wonderful help to Paul, that he knew 
 no man after the flesh, and that he was 
 so crucified to all fleshly connextions and 
 indulgences, that he knew not even 
 Christ after the flesh. John would have 
 
MR. WILLIAM WARD. 123 
 
 been but a barren apostle, I suspect, (I 
 mean as it respects the conversion of 
 others,) if he had had Christ's bosom al- 
 ways to lean upon. — Oh ! that we may 
 neither of us be a cast away at last ! We 
 may, even though ministers, be useless to 
 Christ, and what then can he do with us, 
 but cast us away as not worth keeping, 
 and as being offensive to him on account 
 of our worthlessness ; because thou ar^t 
 neither cold nor hoty I ivill spue thee out of 
 my mouth, 
 
 **I suppose you hear all the news 
 about Serampore, as soon as it arrives. 
 My journal contains all the particulars 
 that come into my recollection. After 
 this I know not what to write. Thinsfs 
 lose their surprising quality as soon as 
 they are seen, and hence many things, 
 which would no doubt be pleasing to 
 friends in England, are not thought to 
 be worth detailing. Except heat and 
 cold, riches and poverty, I suppose the 
 G 2 
 
124 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 world is much the same every where. 
 Here are no chimnies, no hedges, no flag- 
 pavements ; rain only at particular sea- 
 sons ; no instances of men being frozen 
 to death ; no snow ; hail is not uncom- 
 mon, and ice may be made. 
 
 *' My wife joins in Christian love to 
 you. Little John Fountain talks Ben- 
 galee pretty readily ; he is very much 
 like his father. Kitty Grant is like her 
 father, and Samuel Brunsdon like his. 
 Oh ! that instead of the fathers, the chil- 
 dren might be a seed to serve him. 
 William Carey has been baptized ; he 
 and Felix will, I hope, be blessings to 
 the Mission. Latelj^- we have had to 
 baptize almost every month; people 
 from a distance, on hearing the news of 
 Christ's death, have come, been in- 
 structed, and baptized. We have now 
 members of our church in several parts 
 of the country. It is true, they are like 
 sheep without a shepherd ; but their 
 
MR. WILLIAM WARD. 125 
 
 simple conversations do not seem to 
 be without fruit, and we can neither de- 
 tain all the baptized at Serampore, nor 
 constantly preside over them at their 
 houses. Happy is it for them, that they 
 are under the care of the Shepherd and 
 Bishop of souls. 
 
 **I am full of business, what with 
 printing, and other things ; God, how- 
 ever, is exceedingly kind to me ; yea 
 more than I can ask and think. I dare 
 not ask for uninterrupted health, and yet 
 he has given it me; I have not even 
 tasted affliction. My wife has enjoyed 
 almost an equal measure of health. 
 *' Your's, 
 
 W. Ward." 
 
 In the month of June, the same year, 
 he thus writes, respecting the state of 
 the Mission, their domestic comforts, the 
 progress of the translations, &c. &c. 
 G 3 
 
126 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 ** Sei'ampore, June 20, 1803. 
 
 ''Our affairs here are not discourag- 
 ing, though we have many things within 
 and without to discourage us. We have 
 many cares and anxieties of which you 
 can have no idea, and to explain which 
 would take up a longer letter than I can 
 possibly now write ; but if we should 
 hold our peace respecting the goodness 
 of God to us, the very stones would re- 
 prove us. We have all lately had good 
 health ; I have never been sick. Our 
 love to each other abounds. All our 
 wants are supplied. Our hands are very 
 full. Our church is gradually on the 
 increase ; the mission, I hope, is ripen- 
 ing and growing more and more esta- 
 blished. We could not expect more 
 personal or domestic happiness in any 
 country , and though we sometimes feeU 
 that we have left many endeared friends 
 behind us ; yet it is but for a night, and 
 
MR. WILLIAM WARD. 127 
 
 in the morning we meet again, where our 
 country, enjoyments and communion 
 will be one and eternal. I think my 
 spirits are upon the whole more regular, 
 than they were at Hull. I begin to have 
 a little more pleasure in talking Ben- 
 galee, though I often wish I could tell 
 all my heart to these people. Oh! it is 
 a hard thing to be in labour for souls, 
 and to be unable to speak to them. 
 
 '* You cannot think, how hard it is to 
 make up a letter from this country. I 
 think the great deficiency of Bengal, 
 when compared with England, is its 
 want of those sweet meadows and sing- 
 ing birds which you have. I cannot 
 take a walk like that to Cottingham, &c- 
 The heat does not go off till evening, 
 and we have no grass fields ; every cow 
 is tied in a lane or in the corn fields ; 
 no animal ranges at large ; and a few 
 hot days burn up all the herbage, which 
 G 4 
 
128 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 the three months of ram produces. We 
 have a pleasant walk by the side of the 
 river, and another in our garden, and we 
 have fine pieces of water to bathe in, in 
 the heat of the day. 
 
 '' Since I wrote the above, I have had 
 a slight fever, but I am now well again. 
 My wife also was poorly at the same 
 time ; but she has been graciously re- 
 stored. I am very full of business ; we 
 have many things in hand to print. The 
 workmen here are not like Europeans ; 
 they want a deal of superintending; 
 and after all, the pressmen never work 
 things clean ; so that I have not that 
 pleasure in printing which I might have 
 had if I could have printed elegantlyo 
 Yet this is the great thing ; we are 
 printing the Word of Jehovah, that 
 Word which is not to return void, but 
 is to answer the purpose for which it is 
 sent, that is, to be the power of God to 
 
MR. WILLIAM WARD. 129 
 
 salvation to those who believe, and the 
 sanctifying Word to all Christ's true 
 disciples. We shall soon begin a second 
 edition of the New Testament, the 
 translation of which will, I am per- 
 suaded, be far better understood than the 
 last. 
 
 ** Upon the whole, every thing is 
 better than I could have expected in 
 embracing a missionary life, and we 
 have now had as much success, as I ex- 
 pected to see in my life, or even more ; 
 yet the multitude are not gathered — 
 millions choose a wooden god before the 
 ever-living Jehovah ; sin and a blind 
 god suit their depraved tastes best. 
 Oh! my dear brother, you know not 
 half, or a hundredth part of the mercy 
 God has bestowed upon you in the cir- 
 cumstances of your birth, &c. nor will 
 you ever know, unless you become a 
 missionary, and come and live here ; then 
 you will bless God indeed, for you Chris- 
 
130 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 tian education, for your Bible, for the 
 Christian Sabbath, for the everlasting 
 Gospel. 
 
 '* Yours, 
 
 W. Ward." 
 
 With a spirit like that, which breathes 
 in the foregoing letters, it may be ex- 
 pected that his situation was no sine- 
 cure; with unwearied diligence he 
 applied himself to his great work, and 
 though of necessity he had seasons of 
 relaxation from his closest and most 
 sedentary employment in the printing- 
 office ; yet we find these uniformly de- 
 voted to itinerant excursions,^ in order to 
 preach the gospel. As no motive of 
 worldly aggrandisement induced him to 
 choose his vocation, so no love of ease 
 made him indolent and supine in fulfil- 
 ling its duties ; if he rested from labour, 
 it was to watch and embrace every op- 
 portunity that offered itself of conversing 
 
MR. WILLIAM WARD. 131 
 
 with the natives and others, on the great 
 concerns of eternity ; if he recreated 
 his worn out vigour and spirits, it was 
 in travelling, sometimes to a considerable 
 distance up the country, to carry the glad 
 tidings of salvation. In the midst of 
 these constant and laborious efforts for 
 promoting the great ends of his calling, 
 the publishing and distribution of the 
 Word of God, he was engaged likewise, 
 as well as several of his brethren, in 
 ministering to the temporal wants of 
 himself and his family, and contributed 
 his full proportion to the supply of those 
 funds, which for more than twenty years 
 past have enabled the Serampore mis- 
 sionaries, not only to support themselves, 
 but to carry on extensive and highly 
 important operations, in establishing sta- 
 tions, sending out native preachers, 
 assisting the poor, &c. The blessing of 
 God crowned these disinterested endea- 
 vours, temporal resources were opened 
 
132 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 to them of a very unexpected nature, 
 and situations of great trust and literary- 
 importance were conferred upon them ^ 
 so that for the above mentioned period 
 of time, it is a moderate computation to 
 say, that their joint and separate exer- 
 tions brought tw^o thousand a year into 
 the common treasury ; for it must be re- 
 membered, they had no separate, no 
 individual interests in this w^orld ; they 
 formed one family, with one great object 
 in view, to the promotion of which every 
 sacrifice was made, and every effort was 
 consecrated. It is necessary to render 
 this tribute to the disinterested zeal of 
 these worthy men, since mistaken views 
 of the subject have led to injurious re- 
 flections upon them. Some persons, 
 with the best intentions no doubt, yet 
 making no allowance for an eastern 
 climate or eastern manners, and perhaps 
 thinking, because a missionary's life is 
 often a life of great deprivation, it is 
 
MR. WILLIAM WARD. 133 
 
 therefore unlawful in him to enjoy the 
 comforts of this world, when Divine Pro- 
 vidence casts them in his way, have been 
 ready to represent them as living in in- 
 glorious ease and comparative luxury ; 
 little aware, that the absence of mere 
 bodily indulgence is one of the least 
 formidable difficulties, that such men 
 are called to encounter. The servant of 
 Christ knows well, that his life consisteth 
 neither in the abundancey nor scantiness 
 of the things y which he possesseth ; and he 
 can enjoy the bounties of heaven, with- 
 out setting his heart upon them, or to 
 use the words of an inspired apostle, he 
 can use the world, so as not abusing it. 
 The following short extract from one of 
 Mr. Ws letters, will serve much to rectify 
 these mistakes ; as it exhibits the nature 
 of their work, the peculiar difficulties 
 they have to cope with, and the expen- 
 diture they are obliged to incur. 
 
134 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 Serampore, Dec. 14, 1804, 
 
 ** There have been no letters received 
 at the post-office till just now, and now 
 I am writing night and day. However, 
 I am sorry from my heart, that I have 
 not embraced some earlier opportunity. 
 In the hot weather I feel no heart to 
 write letters, and indeed I have been 
 very ill for some time past. I am now 
 in good health and spirits, and so is my 
 little family. 
 
 ''You say G. sighs much— If sincere, 
 I have no objection, there is little fear of 
 being religious over-much; I fear more 
 from a worldly spirit, than from spending 
 too much time in prayer and meditation. 
 Excess in religious feelings is to be 
 avoided ; but the danger of man is great- 
 est on the other side. His nature, his 
 habits, his companions are sinful ; and 
 he who carries real piety to its highest 
 attainments in the strength of God, does 
 
MR. WILLIAM WARD. 135 
 
 more than conquer a world. I know I 
 have never been in danger of being 
 righteous over-much ; I confess with 
 shame, that my religious feelings have 
 always been too cold and lukewarm ; so 
 that I have often doubted, whether I 
 have been truly converted or not, on this 
 account. 
 
 ** Our family has been this year in 
 general in health ; but we have to lament 
 the loss of our dear sister Chamberlain, 
 at Cutwa. She died a few days after 
 her lying-in ; the infant is living. I had 
 for some months an intermitting fever 
 hanging upon me, but I am now in good 
 health, and so is Mrs. W. My little 
 Hannah comes on apace ; she is now 14 
 months old ; begins to talk, and has a 
 hundred little tricks. She has great 
 spirits, and I am afraid will want fre- 
 quent restraint. 1 was once crying over 
 her as a dead child some months ago ; 
 but God revived her. 
 
136 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 *'We have baptized more this year, 
 than in any former one; but we have 
 had much trouble w^ith some of our 
 members, and one or two have been ex- 
 cluded. 
 
 **The chief sins of the natives are 
 lying, covetousness and deceit. They 
 are over-reaching in all their dealings, 
 asking twice as much as they will take. 
 They are very obsequious, where they 
 have any hopes of gain, and very haughty 
 and insolent to inferiors ; they are ex- 
 cessively greedy, when they have any 
 prospect of a customer. The market 
 places are called bazaars, and so are the 
 streets, which contain nothing but shops. 
 Hence at Calcutta, there is the lol-bazaar ; 
 there is the red-bazaar ; the Chinee-ba- 
 zaar, that in which Chinese things are 
 sold. At these shops, the shopkeepers, 
 standing at the doors, call out to the 
 passengers in broken English, 'master, 
 got very good ting !' ' master, I got my 
 
MR. WILLIAM WARD. 137 
 
 good stockings ; master, want any ting ; 
 I serve master.' Some of the natives of 
 Calcutta are very rich. Some ride in 
 carriages like the English, and others in 
 palanquins. Their great expences are 
 at weddings, in worshipping their idols, 
 or in making feasts for the Brahmins. 
 The expence in worshipping idols, lies 
 chiefly in making, gilding and adorning 
 the image, in employing singers and 
 dancers, in feeding all the neighbour- 
 ing Brahmins, and in making presents. 
 
 " I have lately been out in a journey 
 for about 12 days. I rode in a palan- 
 quin carried by four men at a time, 
 called bearers. A number of native 
 brethren accompanied me on foot. I 
 had eight bearers ; first, four carried me 
 a short distance, and then, the other four. 
 The palanquin is a kind of box, with a 
 pole at each end, which rests on the 
 bearers' shoulders ; it stands on four 
 short legs, is matted at the bottom, and 
 
138 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 on the sides are sliding windows or 
 French-blinds. The last day 1 was out, 
 the bearers carried me 24 miles, and I 
 afterwards came as many more on the 
 river, by boat. Here are no good roads, 
 except what have been made by the 
 English; we are obliged either to ford 
 rivers, or go over in boats ; there are no 
 bridges. The method of travelling by 
 palanquin is expensive : I gave the 
 bearers about six shillings and six pence 
 a day ; besides them I had to take three 
 carriers, to carry food, cooking things, 
 cups, plates, knives, &c. these three men 
 had about two shillings and six-pence 
 per day. In the palanquins you may 
 either sit or lie down at night. I slept 
 in mine under a hovel, or in a yard 
 perhaps ; the men under a tree. It is 
 too hot to walk ; if you go on horse- 
 back it would be too hot, and you have 
 no place to sleep in at night. We mostly 
 travel by boat ; but in some parts there 
 
MR. WILLIAM WARD. 139 
 
 is no river, and then you must go by 
 palanquins. I went to see too native 
 brethren, and stayed at their houses two 
 days. On the road I talked at different 
 places, and gave away .tracts, and in the 
 places, where our brethren lived, I talked 
 to many. In going to see a native bro- 
 ther, you cannot go and sit down at 
 table with him, and take a bed with him. 
 He eats on the ground, off a dish or a 
 plantain leave, and he has no bedstead, 
 perhaps, but lies on the floor or a mat. 
 He eats food that you have not been used 
 to ; but he can get you fruit, milk, eggs, 
 fowls, sugar, &c. The Hindoos have a 
 great abhorrence of fowls, the same as 
 Mussulmans have of pigs. Because I 
 bought fowls for my food, they laughed 
 at our native brethren and said, I was 
 come to make them eat fowls. They 
 have also a great abhorrence of fowls' 
 eggs. They try to insult our native 
 brethren, by saying to them, ' Ah ! now 
 
140 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 you eat with the English — you eat cow's 
 flesh, and fowls' eggs.' These words 
 mean no harm to us ; but they reflect 
 great disgrace, on whomsoever they fall, 
 in their eyes. We live in a state of great 
 ease and comfort ; yet I know, we have no 
 superfluities ; we eat only that, which we 
 have earned by great industry. No Eu- 
 ropeans in this country work as we do. 
 The money sent by the Society does ?iot 
 half meet our expenditure. 
 
 ''Farewell, my dear friend. Oh! to 
 meet in heaven ! God prevent a dis- 
 appointment ! Oh ! to be near to him ! 
 Oh ! that *' for us to live, it may be to and 
 for Christ; then to die will be gain." 
 Pray for me. Many missionaries go to 
 hell. Remember, let the world take its 
 chance, we bind ourselves to meet in 
 heaven. W. Ward.' 
 
 A man, who could write and feel in 
 this way, could be actuated by no mo- 
 
MR. WILLIAM WARD. 141 
 
 tives of self-gratification, or worldly 
 aggrandisement; neither would he, from 
 indolence, neglect any opportunities of 
 forwarding the great object of his call- 
 ing. Hence he was constantly engaged, 
 either in instructing the church at 
 Serampore, in preaching in the neigh- 
 bouring villages, and at Calcutta, where 
 a place had been opened for the purpose, 
 or in taking missionary tours with one 
 or more of his brethren. 
 
 Towards the close of the year 1804, 
 he took a journey into Jessore in com- 
 pany with eight or nine of the native 
 brethren, most of them preachers ; and 
 so eager was the desire of the people to 
 hear the word, that they all had ample 
 employment in talking to them and dis- 
 tributing religious tracts. On one occa- 
 sion he says, ''Lord's day: People have 
 been coming all day long, and we talked 
 by turns — Krishno Presaud talked well." 
 The result of this tour was, that several 
 
142 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 persons were deeply impressed with the 
 importance of the gospel, and soon after 
 went down to Serampore, where, on 
 sufficient trial, they were baptized, and 
 added to the church. 
 
 During the year 1805, we find him 
 taking two journies of this kind, one to 
 Dhacca, and another to Jessore, at the 
 latter of which places, a missionary 
 station was soon afterwards established. 
 While occupied in this latter excursion, 
 he writes thus to his friend, affording at 
 once a comprehensive view of the pro- 
 gress of the work, and of the spirit by 
 which he himself was influenced. 
 
 Mission Boat, going into Jessore, Nov. 13, 1805. 
 
 *' I am now accompanying brother 
 Mardon into Jessore ; we have been out 
 a week. We have been obliged to come 
 through the Sunderbunds* on account 
 
 * Vast forests, infested with tigers, through 
 which the Ganges flows by various streams in its 
 course towards the Bay of Bengal. 
 
MR. WILLIAM WARD. 143 
 
 of water, as the smaller brooks do not 
 contain water enough for boats. We 
 have a small Budgerow, (a boat with 
 Venetian windows,) with four rowers, 
 and a helms-man ; we have also a cook 
 boat with us. We are going to fix upon 
 a spot for a mission settlement. Ten or 
 twelve persons have been baptized from 
 this district, and we have hopes, that the 
 cause may flourish here. We have ano- 
 ther mission settlement at a place called 
 Cutwa, in the district of Burdv/an. We 
 are just going to form another at Din- 
 agepore, where brother Biss is going. 
 
 " Last Lord's day week we baptized 
 ten natives, five men and five women, 
 one a Brahmin, another a Kaisthu, and 
 the rest Soodrees. Several of these 
 persons were the fruit of some tracts 
 and a Testament, which I gave away in 
 a village near Calcutta, four years ago; 
 and one of the women was Anunda, the 
 wife of Krishnoo Presaud ; she dated 
 
144 MEMOIRS OF ^ 
 
 her change of mind from a sermon, that I 
 preached at the Bengalee school about 
 four months ago. 
 
 '' We have much reason for thankful- 
 ness to God for the great portion of 
 health we have enjoyed, and for the 
 happy progress of all our plans. We 
 want only men and money to fill the 
 country with the knowledge of Christ. 
 We have arrived at that point of our 
 labours, that we can make them efficient, 
 so far at least as human means go ; we 
 are neither working at uncertainty, nor 
 afraid for the result. We have tried our 
 weapons and we know their strength ; 
 the doctrine of the Cross is stronger 
 than the ca^t, and in this we shall be 
 more than conquerors. As we turn all 
 gifts to account, as much as possible, and 
 set our converts to work, as soon as they 
 begin to walk, we have now more mis- 
 sionaries than you would expect. In- 
 cluding brother Fernandez, we have ten 
 
MR. WILLIAM WARD. 145 
 
 European Missionaries, and ten native 
 Missionaries, most of whom have been 
 useful to others, and some of them 
 preach with great fluency. We shall 
 fix a native itinerant or two at each of 
 the stations, who, though they would be 
 able to do nothing by themselves, yet in 
 connection with an English brother 
 may do a thousand times more than he 
 would do alone. 
 
 *' A new chapel, in which we shall 
 have the greatest share, will soon 
 be erected at Calcutta. About 8 or 900 
 rupees are subscribed. 
 
 *'We are beginning to print a Shans- 
 cnt edition of a popular book, called the 
 Hamyan, with an English translation. 
 The College and the Asiatic Society 
 allow us 300 rupees a month for our la- 
 bour in this work, and we are to have 
 the profits of what we can sell of them. 
 I expect soon to put to press a work on 
 the religion, manners, and customs of 
 
 H 
 
146 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 tiie Hindoos in Bengal. I suppose it 
 will make a quarto volume of 500 
 pages ; the plates will be engraved in 
 England. I have been several years 
 employed in it. I hope it will be of use 
 in exposing the greatest piece of priest- 
 craft, and the most formidable system of 
 idolatry, that ever existed in the world. 
 
 W. Ward." 
 
 The year 1806 was marked by some 
 circumstances, especially interesting to 
 the subjectof these Memoirs: one of these 
 was his receiving the account of the 
 death of his friend, Mr. Sedgwick, of 
 Hull, with whom he had kept up an un- 
 interrupted correspondence, and whose 
 memory he cherished with the greatest 
 tenderness. — He preached a funeral ser- 
 mon for him at the Mission house, 
 Serampore, on the 13th of April, and 
 thus pathetically bewailed his loss in a 
 letter to his disconsolate widow. 
 
MR. WILLIAM WARD. 147 
 
 Serampore, May 17, 1806. • 
 
 '' In what words shall I express to 
 you my consternation and grief at re- 
 ceiving an intimation of your loss and 
 mine in the fatal bereavement, to which 
 you in particular have been called to 
 submit. Who but Jesus can heal your 
 wounds ! Who but Jesus can make 
 up your loss ! I was already bereaved, 
 even while he lived, but then I could 
 read his writings, and the expressions 
 of his friendship refreshed my soul. 
 Now — but I must not go on — the Lord 
 gave — yes such a friend none could give 
 but the Father of mercies. Here we 
 can easily add, Blessed be the name of the 
 Lord. — But to add these words too, The 
 Lord hath taken away — this is more than 
 nature. Yet it is he, who says. Blessed 
 are the dead, that die in the Lord — Oh ! 
 that I could go with you to heaven, and 
 see how happy he is there ! how free 
 from the cares of a heavy business ; hov/ 
 H 2 
 
148 iMEMOlRS OF 
 
 free from the burden of a delicate and 
 ailing body ; how happy in the church 
 triumphant, freed from the jarrings and 
 uneasiness of the church militant ; there 
 no differences of christians distress his 
 loving heart, no sighs over a thin meet- 
 ing-house ; for there the house of God 
 is alv^ays filling ; there no perplexities 
 about the real meaning of the gospel ; 
 there no uneasiness about the shiness of 
 fellovv^ christians ; there no sorrows at 
 the sight of sick and dying friends; 
 there no^nxieties about a rising family ; 
 for the sight of the Governor of the world 
 has removed for ever all his mistrust, 
 and enabled him to repose with unruffled 
 confidence on him as the Being, who 
 does all things well. Heaven unravels 
 every thing, sets every thing straight, and 
 the whole soul is swallowed up in the will 
 of God. Blessed, blessed, blessed are the 
 dead that die in the Lord. Oh ! my dear 
 Sedgwick, that I could have died with thee. 
 
MR. WILLIAM WARD. 149 
 
 with the same well-grounded hope of 
 being present with the Lord. Oh ! may 
 we both — may we and all our friends be 
 preparing for that world, to which our 
 dear S. is gone. 
 
 * Oh ! What amazing joys they feel, 
 While to their golden harps they sing, 
 And sit on every heavenly hill, 
 And spread the triumphs of their king.' 
 
 *' Your's, 
 
 W. Ward." 
 
 In his journal too, at this period, he 
 expresses nearly the same feelings. 
 '' April 13th. I preached a funeral ser- 
 mon for my dear friend Mr. Sedgwick 
 of Hull. Oh that God may prepare me 
 to follow him ! To me, the world gets 
 poorer every day. My friends gone — 
 all the rest is dung and dross!" 
 
 Another event of considerable import- 
 ance to the cause of God, occurred very 
 soon after the writing of the above letter ; 
 H 3 
 
150 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 this was the commencement of the 
 prmting of the New Testament in the 
 Shanscrit, or learned language of India, 
 This language occupies the same place 
 among the eastern natives, that the Latin 
 does amongst us; it is the vehicle, by 
 which the learned communicate their 
 literary information from one to another, 
 through the numerous nations that peo- 
 ple that vast continent, the depository 
 of their ancient records, and of all the 
 science they possess ; and what is more, 
 as it gives it a sacred character in their 
 estimation, it is the language, in which 
 the stories of their theology, the ex- 
 ploits of their deities, and the rites of 
 their religion are treasured up ; so that it 
 is certain of being cultivated by the li- 
 terati of every district, and is in no 
 danger of becoming entirely obsolete in 
 any. To translate the Holy Scriptures 
 into this language, therefore, was like 
 laying them up in the archives of the 
 
MR. WILLIAM WARD. 151 
 
 country, giving them a degree of rever- 
 ence in the eyes of the people, and ma- 
 king all future translations comparatively 
 easy and certain. This great work Mr. 
 Ward had the privilege of seeing accom- 
 plished, and in the month of June, this 
 year, he thus notices the commencement 
 of the printing. ''June 6th. We have 
 begun to print the Shanscrit Testament, 
 the publication of which is of great im- 
 portance, as a faithful translation into 
 this language will render translations 
 into other Eastern languages easy and 
 certain. Every eastern Pundit knows 
 the Shanscrit, and could make from it a 
 good translation into his own vernacular 
 tongue. By translating the scriptures 
 therefore into this language we, in effect, 
 translate them into all the languages of 
 Asia." 
 
 On the 1st of June, in this year also, 
 a mat house or shed was opened at Cal- 
 cutta for divine worship, on which occa- 
 H 4 
 
152 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 sion Mr. Ward preached to a considera- 
 ble number of the natives. The brethren 
 had for some time been in the habit of 
 visiting that city, which is about sixteen 
 miles distant from Serampore^ and so 
 encouraging was the prospect, that they 
 were induced to begin a subscription for 
 the building of a chapel. In this they 
 were kindly assisted by a number of 
 Europeans there, v/ho v/ere favourable 
 to the cause ; but so great was the want 
 of religious instruction, particularly in 
 the quarter in which they intended to 
 build, that it was deemed necessary to 
 erect in the mean time this temporary 
 convenience. Thus was tent-preaching 
 commenced in that populous city ; for 
 this erection was very similar to the 
 tents now used, being merely a shelter 
 from the hea.t, open at the sides, with 
 free ingress and egress ; so that the na- 
 tives, whose prejudices were so great, 
 that many of them could never have 
 
MR. WILLIAM WARD. 153 
 
 been induced to enter a chapel, yet 
 freely approached and even entered this 
 shed. Several of them, brought thus 
 under the sound of the Gospel, were 
 deeply impressed. But in proportion 
 as the work succeeded, the spirit of op- 
 position was roused ; the native brethren 
 had to endure much reproach for having 
 renounced their cast, and the Mission- 
 aries were abused for inducing them to 
 do it ; this, however, v/as much easier to 
 bear than the insidious attempts of in- 
 fidels under the christian name ; these 
 heartless wretches, dead to every prin- 
 ciple of truth and holiness, to every 
 feeling of christian sympathy and bene- 
 volence, would have reduced the poor 
 Hindoos to the same cheerless condition 
 with themselves. Mr. Ward thus notices 
 the endeavours of one of these men to 
 subvert the faith of a native who had 
 embraced the Gospel. 
 
 "June 26th. The other morning 
 H 5 
 
154 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 one of the native brethren, who works 
 as a joiner with a neighbouring Euro- 
 pean, said to me with some emotion, 
 
 * What men there are in the world/ A 
 
 Mr. who is at my master's house, 
 
 told me that the gospel is all false. I 
 quoted to him out of John, that "^ we must 
 be born again, or we could not see the 
 kingdom of God." He said, ' that was all 
 false too, and that my instructors were 
 only ruining me.' This was an En- 
 glishman ! 
 
 * Ye brainless wits ! ye baptized infidels I 
 
 * Ye worse for mending; wash'd to fouler stains !" 
 
 The same sp irit it seems had insinu- 
 ated itself into the minds of some of the 
 executive government ; for, in the month 
 of August this year, we find the work of 
 the missionaries receiving a partial and 
 temporary check. On the arrival of two 
 brethren from England to join them in 
 
MR. WILLIAM WARD. 155 
 
 their labours, they were refused per- 
 mission to proceed to Serampore, and 
 at the same time an intimation was con- 
 veyed from the highest authority to Dr. 
 Carey, '* that he and his colleagues must 
 not interfere with the prejudices of the 
 natives ; that, in fact, they were not to 
 preach to them or suffer the native con- 
 verts to do so ; they were not to distribute 
 religious tracts, or suffer the people to 
 distribute them ; they were not to send 
 forth converted natives, or to take any 
 step, by conversation or otherwise, to per- 
 suade the natives to embrace Christi- 
 anity." Though this interruption, through 
 the wise and temperate conduct of the 
 missionaries, and the appointment of the 
 two brethren recently arrived to a foreign 
 station, was at that time removed, yet, 
 in the year following, new attempts were 
 made to restrict their exertions ; so that 
 for a short time they were not allowed 
 to preach in some places, especially at 
 Calcutta. Endeavours were also used 
 
15(5 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 to influence the British Cabinet against 
 them, and measures proposed in Parlia- 
 ment, which were calculated to stop the 
 spread of the gospel among the heathen 
 in our colonial possessions ; but the 
 powerful appeals of enlightened and 
 christian men at last prevailed over the 
 ignorant clamours of infidel alarmists. 
 
 It was in this crisis, that the powerful 
 talents of that singularly original cha- 
 racter, Mr. Andrew Fuller, were suc- 
 cessfully exerted ; aman, v/ho deservedly 
 ranks high in the estimation of his 
 brethren, and indeed of the whole chris- 
 tian church. Born to a humble inhe- 
 ritance, and favoured with very fevf 
 early advantages, his mind burst through 
 all the obstructions, which would have 
 confined it ; it had rich resources of its 
 ov/n, that almost seemed to preclude the 
 necessity of extraneous assistance, and 
 yet so attentive was the faculty of ob- 
 servation, that every thing relating to 
 men and manners was instantly appro- 
 
MR. WILLIAM WARD. 157 
 
 priated ; while a habit of close and dili- 
 gent exertion enabled him to treasure up 
 a fund of useful knowledge, that amply 
 supplied the place of a more literary 
 education. As a preacher, he had few 
 equals ; his manner was entirely his own, 
 not remarkable for gracefulness, but strik- 
 ingly solemn and impressive ; his matter 
 displayed deep thought, and an exten- 
 sive acquaintance with his subject; he 
 seldom touched a text, but he struck 
 out some new and interesting ideas ; 
 close reasoning and accurate discern- 
 ment of religious sentiments were cer- 
 tainly his peculiar forte, but he was not 
 deficient in imagination ; if its flights 
 were not frequent and extensive, they 
 were bold, and in some parts of his dis- 
 courses there was a moving pathos, that 
 captivated the feelings of his audience, 
 and drew tears from every eye. No 
 man was more absorbed in the great 
 work, to which he had devoted himself. 
 
158 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 or concentrated his powers with more in- 
 tensity in the one point, to which all his 
 labours tended, the advancement of the 
 cause of divine truth ; but when any thing 
 affected or threatened to affect the exis- 
 tence or prosperity of that cause, he was 
 immediately on the alert ; no subject was 
 strange or difficult to him, that had even 
 the remotest connexion with this, and 
 he left no branch of human science un- 
 explored, that could aid his efforts in 
 defending it. Hence, though political 
 discussions were not his study, and he 
 ever inculcated unreserved submission 
 from christians to the higher powers; 
 yet when the Mission, the object of so 
 many years solicitude and exertion, was 
 assailed, he showed, that he could feel 
 as an Englishman and as a citizen of the 
 world, he brought all his talents to bear 
 on this one subject, and experienced 
 statesmen found a powerful opponent in 
 the comparatively unlettered minister 
 
MR. WILLIAM WARD. 159 
 
 of a little provincial town. He wrote a 
 series of pamphlets on the subject in 
 debate, and held frequent conferences 
 with several of the leading members of 
 the government, the issue of which was at 
 once favourable to the cause, and credi- 
 table to himself; the question appears 
 to be completely laid at rest, and the 
 christian missionary has, for some years 
 past, pursued his disinterested and ar- 
 dous course with unrestricted liberty. 
 
 Of the satisfactory termination of this 
 matter at both of the periods, to which 
 we have referred, Mr. Ward makes 
 mention in two of his letters to his 
 friends ; in one bearing date, December 
 27th, 1806, he thus vv^rites— 
 
 *' The mission goes on as usual ; 
 though we have met with a check from 
 the English governor. Brother Biss is 
 going home on account of bad health. 
 We are building a chapel at Calcutta ; 
 I might say, two chapels. We baptize 
 
160 ' MEMOIRS OF 
 
 now and then, and the translations are 
 proceeding. Brethren Mardon and 
 Chater are going to form a mission in 
 the Burman empire." 
 
 In another, written April 7th, 1808, 
 he thus records their deliverance from 
 the last attempt to abridge their liber- 
 ties ; — 
 
 '* The cause, in which we are en- 
 gaged, has had some struggles lately; 
 but these tempests have only made it 
 take deeper root. I hope my coming 
 out to India has not been without some 
 fruit in conversions ; as a printer, I must 
 leave the seeds to grow up. It is a great 
 consolation, that Christ must increase; 
 no more wane. All to come, no doubt, 
 is progress, and the gospel must novv 
 take giant strides." 
 
 In the following years it does not ap- 
 pear, that Mr. Ward was engaged, as 
 formerly, in missionary tours up the 
 country. The progress of the transla- 
 
MR WILLIAM WARD. 161 
 
 tions and the increasing number of them, 
 rendered his presence indispensably ne- 
 cessary in the printing office, and the 
 accession of brethren from time to time 
 from England, to take charge of the se- 
 veral stations, together with the in- 
 creasing number of native preachers, 
 who periodically visited these, as well as 
 other places, rendered it partly unneces- 
 sary, that the elder missionaries should 
 do more, than direct the proceedings of 
 the wdiole body. This was a work, which 
 required not a little diligence and care, 
 since these stations were now becoming 
 numerous, and scattered over a wide 
 extent of the country, while new open- 
 ings for usefulness were presenting them- 
 selves on every hand. Besides many 
 places within the limits of the British 
 East India possessions, they had com- 
 menced a mission to the Burman empire, 
 a very important post, which required 
 much of their attention to foster the 
 
162 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 rising cause, and to encourage the breth- 
 ren, who were engaged in its superin- 
 tendence. The concerns of the mission 
 family at Serampore also were multi- 
 plying, the calls of the natives for 
 instruction grew more frequent, and the 
 new place, recently erected at Calcutta, 
 for the preaching of the gospel, needed 
 much of their attention ; so that it would 
 not have been either practicable or wise 
 for them, to make long excursions 
 from home. In all these engagements 
 Mr. Ward took his full share ; he inter- 
 ested himself much in the prosperity of 
 the family, particularly of the younger 
 branches of it ; he frequently preached 
 at Calcutta and in the neighbouring 
 places, and his ministry appears to have 
 been much owned ; he pursued with 
 ardour his peculiar business of printing 
 and revising the translations of the scrip- 
 tures, and, in addition to a prettj^ exten- 
 sive correspondence, compiled several 
 
xMR. WILLIAM WARD. 163 
 
 short memoirs of those of the natives, 
 who died in the faith of the gospel. 
 Towards the end of the year 1807, it 
 pleased the allwise Head of the Church, 
 to remove two of the most useful native 
 preachers, Petumber Singee and Krishno 
 Presaud ; and on this occasion a brief 
 but most interesting memoir of each of 
 them was presented to the public from 
 this pen.* Of the impediments, which 
 these avocations necessarily interposed, 
 to extensive itinerating, he seemed fully 
 sensible, and he thus speaks on the sub- 
 ject in one of his letters, in which also 
 he shows, how highly he valued the im- 
 portant labours, in which they were 
 engaged, more especially those of his 
 elder brethren. The letter is dated 
 January 14th, 1809. 
 
 " We are advancing in one way or 
 other. I know not, but things are quite 
 
 * See Periodical Accounts, vol. o. 
 
164 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 as prosperous as we could expect : we 
 are frequently baptizing, and the pros- 
 pect is, that we shall baptize in about a 
 month. Yet our success among the 
 natives is slackened, owing, I suppose, 
 in some measure to our not being able 
 to itinerate. 
 
 '* I have reason for much gratitude 
 for personal health and family mercies. 
 My wife and children enjoy good health; 
 I have many dear friends in this country, 
 and receive expressions of affection from 
 more quarters than I can acknowledge. 
 My ministry is, I hope, in some degree 
 successful in conversions, and I am very 
 busy in pushing on the printing of the 
 Holy Scriptures in different languages. 
 My dear brethren Carey and Marshman 
 are well, thanks be to God. We are one 
 heart, and if there were any brethren 
 like them rising up, I should think the 
 Baptist Mission was destined to effect 
 an amazing work indeed; but if all is 
 
MR. WILLIAM WARD. 1G5 
 
 to die with the elder brethren, and the 
 translations to rest on the shelves, and 
 to be left half done and half undone; 
 — we can only weep over the apathy of 
 Baptist Mmisters and Christians in Eng- 
 land." 
 
 His ministry appears to have been gene- 
 rally acceptable, and his amiable manners 
 procured him many friends wherever he 
 went. He could not be insensible to 
 their attentions, or unaffected at the suc- 
 cess, with which it had pleased God to 
 crown his labours; nor was he unconscious 
 of the native tendency of his heart to be 
 lifted up by such tokens of divine favour; 
 yet these corrupt workings of the carnal 
 mind found a sufficient counterpoise in 
 a deep conviction of his own wretched- 
 ness, and a jealous fear of falling short 
 of the great end of his calling. He well 
 knew, that success in his ministry was 
 no decisive proof of the sincerity of his 
 owJi profession, and he felt the danger of 
 
1(56 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 failing of eternal life himself, while he 
 was instrumental in leading many to the 
 hope of it. Thus in a letter dated Janu- 
 ary 11th, 1810, he expresses himself in 
 the following strain of mingled pleasure, 
 and humble caution. — 
 
 '' I perceive, you have had loud calls 
 in your connexions ; Oh ! that we may be 
 quickened by these calls and prepared 
 for our own removal. I have lost several 
 friends by death here. On account of 
 death I am about to lose a family at Cal- 
 cutta, which was my home when there, and 
 in which I was exceedingly happy. The 
 ardent attachment and tender solicitude, 
 manifested towards me by this family, 
 could only be equalled by the kindness, I 
 met with from you and my dear S . I have 
 many friends in this country, whose af- 
 fection is one of the great consolations 
 of my life. When I go to Calcutta, I 
 could spend a whole week in going from 
 house to house, and in every house 
 
MR. WILLIAM WARD. 167 
 
 J find my friends all eager to make me 
 a guest. When I look over our congre- 
 gation at Calcutta, and see the number 
 to whom my labours have been (I hope) 
 blessed, I know not how I feel ; I hope 
 it is not pride; it is joy mixed with. 
 Not unto me, )iot unto me. Oh Lord; but 
 unto Thee, unto Thee be all the glory. Ah! 
 my dear friend, pray for me, that I may 
 not be a cast away, after I have preached 
 unto others. I have more reason to fear 
 this, than I shall ever be able to per- 
 suade you. Hold thou me up, O Lord, 
 and I shall be safer 
 
 In another letter, dated March 13th 
 of the same year, he says, 
 
 '' We have been blessed with health, 
 harmony and a degree of success in our 
 work, during the year. Several are now 
 waiting for baptism, four of them Hin- 
 doos. We have baptized twenty-five the 
 last year here and at Calcutta ; eighty 
 at all the stations. Our translation w^ork 
 is making progress. 
 
168 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 *' Mrs. Ward and her four children 
 are well ; I have much pleasure in my 
 family, and in my work. My public 
 ministry is blessed with a good degree 
 of acceptance, and I hope it has not 
 been fruitless ; but I have the greatest 
 reason to put my mouth in the dust, 
 that I have not been more zealous in 
 public, and more devotional in pri- 
 vate." 
 
 The following letter is valuable, as not 
 only alluding to a memorable instance of 
 divine power and grace, manifested 
 under his preaching, but being very des- 
 criptive of the state of his mind, and 
 breathing a spirit of the deepest humility. 
 
 " Serampore, Feb. 18, 1811. 
 
 '' Ah ! my dear G. can a per- 
 son, who has been saved by the Re- 
 deemer from so great a death — can _he 
 think lightly of, and endeavour to un- 
 
MR. WILLIAM WARD. 169 
 
 dervalue such a Saviour? Is it not im- 
 possible ? Will he not rather say, 
 
 * And yet, how far from thee I lie J 
 Dear Jesus raise me higher.' 
 
 You know something of the dreadful de- 
 pravity of the heart — your groans under 
 a body of sin and death — your fears, lest 
 this depravity should be absolutely un- 
 pardonable — all these things teach you, 
 that, if you are saved, it must be infinite 
 grace and merit united — nothing less, 
 you are sure, is sufficient to reach your 
 case. These are often the feelings of 
 your old friend ; for he does not think 
 himself at all better, than when he used 
 to lament over his fallen nature, and base 
 conduct in your presence. O Lord ! [ 
 am infinitely vile, and base, and ungrate- 
 ful : if I had cleaved to thee with pur- 
 pose of heart — if I had followed thee 
 fully --if I had kept close to my closet, 
 and had torn every rival from the 
 I 
 
170 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 throne of my heart — Oh! then I had 
 enjoyed a heaven upon earth; I had, 
 instead of trembling at death, instead 
 of gloomy despondency in looking to- 
 wards the Canaan, which I would fain 
 love — anticipated the glorious hour of 
 dismission, and the songs of the blessed 
 had been familiar to me, even in these 
 regions of death. Give me a lift heaven- 
 wards, my dear G., by your prayers. 
 I think daily of death, and prepare 
 no more ! 
 
 '' We are in good health. I think, I 
 could not have enjoyed eleven years 
 of better health in England. Our four 
 dear children are just recovered from 
 the measles. We have had more than 
 twenty at once ill of them, lately, in our 
 house and school. 
 
 '' Our additions to the three churches 
 at Calcutta, Jessore, and Orissa, have 
 been considerable. In Jessore alone, 
 more than 30 natives have been baptized 
 
MR. WILLIAM WARD. 171 
 
 in 1810. Four new volumes of the 
 Scriptures are just coming out of the 
 press ; two of them are in new languages, 
 viz. the Mahratta and the Hindoos- 
 t'hanee. 
 
 *' I was lately preaching from ' Re- 
 joice, O young man, in thy youth, S^c, 
 A notorious drunkard was impressed 
 under the sermon, and he and his wife 
 are proposed for baptism. This person's 
 master had used every means in vain to 
 persuade him to become sober ; ' he got 
 drunk,' he said, 'because he had nothing 
 else to do.' After this change, his mas- 
 ter was urging him to go to church, and 
 not to the chapel ; on which he said, 
 * You know, sir, what a drunkard I have 
 been, and how often you have urged me 
 in vain to leave it off; yet by going 
 once to the chapel, I was constrained to 
 do that which none of your remon- 
 strances were able to bring about ; there- 
 fore it is that I wish to go again.' His 
 I 2 
 
IfS MEMOIRS OF 
 
 master told him, he should have to get 
 him a place in the mad-house, if he went 
 there. 
 
 ''I often enjoy Sabbath evenings at 
 Calcutta among our members. We 
 drink tea, I read missionary and other 
 letters, and we sing and pray. Some- 
 times we have not less than fifty friends 
 thus sitting round a room, conversing, 
 singing and praying together ; some of 
 them, I hope, the fruits of my ministry. 
 It is truly refreshing, after preaching 
 three or four times, to have such an hour 
 with dear friends. 
 
 ''Ever thine, 
 
 W. Ward." 
 
 The year 1812 was an eventful year 
 for the subject of these Memoirs : several 
 deaths occurred in the mission family, 
 and among others one of his own chil- 
 dren, an interesting little girl, about 
 six years old; but the greatest calamity 
 
MR. WILLIAM WARD. 173 
 
 that befel the mission, and in which 
 Mr. W. was most deeply affected, was 
 the loss of their large printing-office by 
 fire, containing the types of all the 
 scriptures, that had been printed, to the 
 amount of at least ten thousand pounds. 
 This was a severe dispensation of pro- 
 vidence, not only as the greatness of 
 the loss threatened to overwhelm their 
 feeble affairs, but, which was felt most 
 intensely by them, it was feared that, 
 for a considerable time at least, it would 
 put a stop to the publication of the 
 scriptures altogether; yet that God, 
 who in his infinite wisdom, judged it 
 right thus to try them, appeared for 
 them in this crisis in a most wonderful 
 manner. They were able to recover the 
 moulds for casting new types oat of the 
 fire; the sympathy and assistance of 
 their friends on the spot was most af- 
 fectionately offered, and no sooner were 
 the tidings made known in Britain, than 
 I 3 
 
174 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 every heart was alive to the feeling of 
 their situation, and every hand ready to 
 contribute towards repairing their loss. 
 Christians of every denomination vied 
 with each other in the most solid ex- 
 pressions of condolence ; so that in a 
 comparatively short time a sum was 
 raised and forwarded from all parts of 
 the kingdom, which more than covered 
 the amount of the damage they had sus- 
 tained. The delay thus occasioned to 
 the work of the publication of the trans_ 
 lations was, however, very distressing ; 
 they had to begin much of their labour 
 anew, and had they not found among 
 the rubbish the steel punches of all the 
 Indian languages, uninjured by the 
 dames, years must have elapsed, before 
 they could have replaced the types they 
 had lost. Under the painful feelings ex- 
 cited by these trying circumstances Mr. 
 W. writes thus to a friend, who had also 
 experienced much affliction. 
 
MR. VvILLIAM WARD. 175 
 
 '' Serampore, March 26, 1812. 
 
 "I rejoice, that you have not forgotten 
 me during so long an absence, and 
 amidst so many changes. You have 
 tasted the cup of affliction, yea, drank 
 deeply of these bitter, though sanctify- 
 ing waters, and you may now sympa- 
 thize with your old friend ; for he is be- 
 ginning to sink in deep waters. Mrs. 
 Mardon, an old maid servant, one of the 
 school boys, then my dear, dear child 
 Mary next, brother Marshman's young- 
 est, W. Ward Marshman, and lastly the 
 infant left by sister Mardon in the care 
 of Mrs. Ward — all these deaths have 
 happened in our family within a few 
 weeks. Add to this, our large printing- 
 office, with all its contents, has been burnt 
 down, by which we have sustained a 
 loss of not less than 70,000 rupees, 
 nearly 10,000 pounds, and all the editions 
 of the Holy Scriptures are put a stop to 
 for the present. We know not how the 
 1 4 
 
176 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 fire originated; it began while I was 
 sitting at one end of the office, at the 
 close of the day, settling an account, 
 and when very few of the servants were 
 left. I was almost suffocated in passing 
 through the office soon after the fire be- 
 gan. The only things saved were our 
 accounts, and the writings of our pre- 
 mises. 
 
 '' Notwithstanding this loss by the fire 
 so great, I felt much more for the loss 
 of my dear child, than for this ; she was 
 a charming child, and had entwined her- 
 self round my heart so much, that I seem 
 never to have seen affliction till this 
 child was taken from me. I had never 
 oalnulated on the death of any of my 
 family ; but had always been thinking of 
 being taken from them : this was often 
 in my thoughts, and their situation after 
 my death was not unfrequently a source 
 of considerable anxiety — Ah ! my dear 
 friend, I know you can, and will feel forme. 
 
MR. WILLIAM WARD. 177 
 
 I have now two daughters left, and Mrs. 
 Ward's son by Mr. Fountain ; he grows 
 a big boy and is very obedient. I have 
 many comforts left, and am very happy 
 in my family ; but I much wish to see 
 the work of grace begun in the hearts of 
 my children, before I go hence. I hope 
 you see some seeds springing up in the 
 hearts of yours : pray let me have an ac- 
 count of each ; I can never be indifferent 
 about them, I hope we shall start 
 again in printing the scriptures in a few 
 weeks. 
 
 ** I am, most truly, 
 ** Yours, &c. 
 
 W. Ward." 
 
 Through the merciful interposition of 
 Divine Providence, and the kindness of 
 their friends, they had so far recovered 
 themselves, that in the month of March, 
 the following year, he says, '' I have al- 
 ready informed you of the death of my 
 I 5 
 
178 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 dear child Mary, and you have no doubt 
 heard of the loss of our prmting-office 
 by fire. We are lifting up our heads 
 again ; our presses are more than ever 
 employed, and we have one more press 
 than we had last March, when the office 
 was burnt down." 
 
 The death of this dear child he seems 
 to have felt severely for a long time 
 after; in the year 1814, he mentions it 
 with the painful interest that a recent 
 event of this kind generally excites ; 
 yet he was far from murmuring at the 
 stroke ; he acknowledged submission 
 to be his duty, and he found it be 
 his privilege. There was one subject, 
 which he felt still more intensely ; this 
 was the 7xligious state of his children ; 
 he was pleased, as a parent, with their 
 growth and the developement of their 
 minds; but his greatest solicitude was 
 for their eternal interests. This anxiety 
 he thus forcibly expresses in a letter 
 
MR. WILLIAM WARD. 179 
 
 written about the beginning of the year 
 ]813. 
 
 *' I was much struck with the account 
 of the death of Mr. Kirkbride. What 
 were his last views of religion ? I re- 
 joice in the news you received about 
 your Ann ; I wish I could see such a 
 work in my Ann. She is too thought- 
 less, 1 fear wholly so ; she is sharp, and 
 upon the whole affectionate, and 1 have 
 great reason for thankfulness respecting 
 my children ; but every other anxiety is 
 swallowed up in their eternal safety. 
 No thought is so dreadful, as the pos- 
 sibility of their being eternally miser- 
 able r 
 
 In the midst of the distressing feelings 
 from this yet recent bereavement, and 
 the still heavier public calamity of the 
 fire, Mr. Ward and his brethren were 
 again called to bear a vexatious inter- 
 ference with the liberty of one of their 
 body. The spirit of infidel policy, which 
 
180 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 judged it better to leave the Hindoos in 
 all the darkness of their besotted idol- 
 atry, than to disturb their cruel and dis- 
 gusting orgies by publishing among 
 them the pure, and benevolent, and 
 heavenly doctrines of the Gospel, though 
 on former occasions it had been cowed 
 and shrunk abashed before the light of 
 divine truth, was not inactive, and it 
 now gained a short-lived triumph. Two 
 more missionaries having arrived from 
 England, they were both ordered home, 
 under the pretext, that they had gone 
 out without the consent of the Company, 
 a thing which is continually done by 
 thousands, who go merely for purposes 
 of commerce. The Government re- 
 lented in favour of one, who was per- 
 mitted to stay ; but the other was obliged 
 to return home, and abandon all the 
 prospects of usefulness, which were then 
 widely opening before them. Alluding 
 to this circumstance, Mr. Ward thus 
 writes to a friend : 
 
MR, WILLIAM WARD. 181 
 
 ** The work of God is going on as suc- 
 cessfully as ever, though we have had 
 some trying afflictions. I have already 
 informed you of the death of my dear, 
 engaging child Mary ; since that time 
 the printing-office has been wholly burnt 
 down; and now one of our brethren, 
 who came out last, has been sent home 
 by Government, because he did not come 
 out with the consent of the Company. 
 Mr. Johns is the devoted victim. He 
 went from us yesterday to go on 
 board the ship : a melancholy day ! Mr. 
 Lawson also was ordered home ; but 
 Government relented in his favour, and 
 listened to our earnest entreaties, that 
 he might stay to improve the Chinese 
 types. Mr. Robinson was ordered home, 
 but he left Calcutta for the island of 
 Java, three or four days before the order 
 was issued for his deportation. Our 
 brethren are charged with no crime ; 
 the charge brought against them of not 
 
182 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 obtaining leave of the Court of Directors, 
 is the ein of thousands, who are per- 
 mitted to live here, and many of them 
 are patronized by the Government itself. 
 They now and then send a man away, 
 whose principles and conduct are inimi- 
 cal ; but our brethren could offend in 
 nothing, except in their missionary cha- 
 racter. Brother Johns will be the first 
 missionary ordered home, who ever 
 arrived before the religious public in 
 England. Surely something will be 
 done in the new charter, that the Go- 
 vernment here, otherwise in general well 
 disposed to us, may not be involved in 
 the guilt of striving against their Maker. 
 Disastrous contest ! " 
 
 While thus enduring some of the most 
 trying afflictions, public and private, and 
 grappling with opposition, not only of 
 the most powerful kind, but so much the 
 more painful, considering the source from 
 whence it sprung, the spirit of these 
 
MR. WILLIAM WARD. 183 
 
 men of God was not daunted, or their 
 expectations damped. They plied their 
 arduous labours with redoubled dili- 
 gence ; so assured were they of the final 
 success of the cause, that opposition only 
 served as a stimulus to exertion ; con- 
 fident of the triumphs of the Saviour, 
 from the faithfulness of his promises, and 
 the infinity of his power, they rejoiced 
 in the anticipation of that period, when 
 all the millions of the heathen should 
 bow to his sceptre. In this animated 
 and animating tone of confident hope, 
 Mr. Ward writes in a letter, dated Dec. 
 28, 1813. 
 
 ''We are here carried forward, the 
 prospects still widening. Ten presses 
 are going, and nearly 200 people are em- 
 ployed about the printing office — I know 
 not how it would be if conversions among 
 the natives were very numerous, our 
 hands are so full with translating and 
 other foundation work. I am encou- 
 
184 MEMOIRS OP 
 
 raged to hope, that the foundation is not 
 thus laying, to such an extent and to 
 such a depth, without reason. I cannot 
 help thinking, that our successors will 
 have a large a building to raise, and that 
 their hands and hearts will be filled with 
 baptizings, building up of churches, re- 
 joicing in the prosperity of Zion. What 
 triumphs await the *' Lamb once slain" 
 over the idols, the cast, the festivals and 
 horrid orgies, the religious suicides and 
 murders of India. Our hands are too 
 few, our days are too short, our strength 
 is too small for this prodigious work. 
 Serampore, Jessore, Cutwa, Malda, Dina- 
 gepore, Patna, Digah, Allahabad, Agra, 
 Sirdhana, Nagpore, Surat, Orissa, Cal- 
 cutta, Ceylon, Burmah, Java, &c. &c. 
 are supplied with the messengers of 
 salvation ; and now we are called by the 
 Governor General himself to send men 
 to Amboyna. More help is wanted at 
 Java and in the Burman empire, and. 
 
MR. WILLIAM WARD. 185 
 
 from mount Himalaya to the Cape of 
 Good Hope, nothing is heard but 
 
 * Lord of the harvest, God of grace, 
 Send down thy heav'nly rain/ 
 
 **Pray thou, — pray ye, O ye favored 
 inhabitants of the land of the Druids, 
 to the Lord of the harvest, that he 
 w^ould thrust out labourers, hard-working, 
 or as the Puritans (of immortal memory) 
 would have said, 'painful preachers of 
 the word. What a field among fifty 
 millions of British subjects for itine- 
 rants, for authors, translators, catechists ! 
 What multitudes of christian works 
 will be wanted ! We have not been able 
 to print one good argumentative work 
 against idolatry — not one elaborate de- 
 fence of Christianity. We have let 
 off nothing but squibs ; the Hindoo 
 pundits have not yet felt in their learned 
 languages the weight of christian ar- 
 tillery, except in one or two parts of the 
 
186 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 Bible. We have not yet had the honour 
 of an attack from one Hindoo scholar. 
 These times are all to come : — they are 
 coming. This struggle will be a tough 
 one; the Hindoo disputants are very 
 subtle, used to dispute ; ingenious too, 
 and will insist on a reason for every 
 thing. One of them set me fast the 
 other day by asking me, how the earth 
 was void, (the earth was ivithout form and 
 void.) How could solid matter be void ?" 
 It will have been observed from some 
 of the preceding letters, that Mr. Ward 
 and his family for several years seem to 
 have enjoyed a tolerable share of health, 
 and to have so much escaped those com- 
 plaints, which are peculiarly incident 
 to Europeans in a tropical climate, as to 
 give rise to a hope, that they were get- 
 ting inured to the country. This plea- 
 sing expectation, however, was disap- 
 pointed ; for in the month of December, 
 1814, we find him noticing several try- 
 
MR. WILLIAM WARD. 187 
 
 iiig dispensations, and among others 
 Mrs. Ward's illness from an obstruction 
 of the liver. Writing to a friend at this 
 time he says : 
 
 *'I think I informed you of the death 
 of my dear child Mary, and perhaps I 
 have mentioned also, that my daughter 
 Amelia has been deprived of the sight 
 of one eye by a neglected cold. Since 
 that time my dear wife has been suffering 
 for many months, under an obsti'uction of 
 the liver. She still languishes, unable to 
 attend to any active employment, and 
 enduring almost constant pain. She has 
 taken very large quantities of mercury, 
 though she takes it in small doses. She 
 has still a good appetite and sleeps well, 
 and these things give me hopes, that she 
 may be restored to me. These afflictions 
 teach me something more of what life 
 really is — a dream, an empty shade, a 
 morning flower. My daughter Hannah 
 is about ten years old, and, upon the 
 
188 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 whole, a very promising and lovely child. 
 But who shall say whether the flower 
 will not wither while we admire its 
 beauties ; but '' passion be still, and 
 dumb be pride, and fixed my soul, O 
 God, on thee." She appears to have 
 some relish for piety, though I fear, she 
 is not under saving impressions of re- 
 ligion." 
 
 These fond hopes of her speedy con- 
 valescence were not, however, realized ; 
 the complaint gained ground so much, 
 that in the following year it was judged 
 expedient to try the eifect of her native 
 air, and a voyage to England. She em- 
 barked in the summer of 1815 with her 
 eldest daughter, and after spending 
 some time among- her friends, returned to 
 India so much restored, that Mr. Ward, 
 who had for some time past laboured 
 under a most distressing indigestion, and 
 consequent flatulency in the stomach, 
 finding himself evidently getting worse, 
 
MR. WILLIAM WARD. 189 
 
 resolved on undertakins: a similar vo 
 
 o 
 
 »yage. 
 
 He was partly influenced in this deter- 
 mination, by the desire of promoting an 
 object of great importance which now 
 occupied the attention of the brethren 
 at Serampore. They had long observed, 
 with regret the low state of real litera- 
 ture and science among the natives of 
 the country, and judging, that it would 
 afford an excellent opportunity of in- 
 stilling christian principles, and furnish- 
 ing those, who were destined to become 
 preachers to their countrymen, v/ith 
 much useful information, they deter- 
 mined on founding a college, in which 
 every branch of a sound and liberal edu- 
 cation m ight be inculcated. This plan 
 could not be carried into execution with- 
 out considerable expence, and as the 
 donations of friends in that part of the 
 world, in addition to the sacrifices made 
 by these disinterested men, were not 
 sufficient to meet it, it was committed 
 
190 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 to Mr. Ward to plead its cause with the 
 liberal and enlightened inhabitants of 
 Europe and America. Thus intrusted, 
 and followed by the blessings and pray- 
 ers of his brethren, he left Bengal at the 
 close of the year 1818, and set sail for 
 England, in a very emaciated state of 
 body, but with an undiminished zeal for 
 the promotion of the great work, in which 
 he had engaged. 
 
MR. WILLIAM WARD. 191 
 
 CHAP. IV. 
 
 The period from Mr. Ward^s embarkation Jor En- 
 gland, up to the time of his death in the year 
 1823. 
 
 Our highly valued friend was a true 
 missionary ; no change of outward cir- 
 cumstances could divert his mind from 
 the great object which he kept in view 
 in all his labours and travels ; whether 
 he was in England or Bengal, on land 
 or on sea, he found a field to cultivate, 
 wherever there were immortal souls pe- 
 rishing in their sins. Embarked once 
 more for his native country, though he felt 
 both the painful regrets of leaving his 
 family behind him, and the pleasing an- 
 ticipations of once more seeing friends, 
 whom he had never ceased to love with 
 an ardour that no distance of place or 
 
192 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 time could abate, he suffered none of 
 these things to engross his mind, and 
 make him forget, that he must be about 
 his masters business. He was especially 
 anxious to impress on the minds of his 
 fellow passengers and of the crew of the 
 vessel, in which he sailed, the things that 
 belonged to their eternal peace ; and the 
 divine blessing appears so signally to 
 have attended his efforts, that several 
 persons, now living, date their first se- 
 rious impressions from his conversation 
 and preaching during the interval of the 
 voyage. Of this very interesting cir- 
 cumstance the following letter to the 
 writer of these Memoirs affords pleasing 
 evidence, while it bears a decided testi- 
 mony to Mr. Ward's piety and Christian 
 zeal. 
 
 '* July, 1824. 
 
 Dear Sir, 
 
 As I made a passage with Mr. 
 Ward on board ship, from India to 
 
MR. WILLIAM WARD. 193 
 
 England, and consequently had an op- 
 portunity of knowing something of his 
 habits, I feel much pleasure in giving 
 you all the information I possess, res- 
 pecting your departed, worthy friend. 
 
 '' During the whole of the voyage he 
 sustained the character of a peace- maker, 
 and his whole mind seemed to be absorb- 
 ed in doing good to his fellow creatures. 
 When any misunderstanding took place 
 between persons on board, he seemed 
 uneasy, until the wounds were healed, 
 which his kind instruction and gentle 
 rebukes contributed, in no small measure, 
 to effect. He always declared the truth 
 to us on the first day of the week, when 
 the weather and his health would permit; 
 at those seasons he appeared much 
 affected, and laboured hard to impress 
 upon his hearers the importance of the 
 Gospel of Christ. The fallen state of 
 man, and the necessity of a Saviour, 
 were doctrines which he continually ea- 
 
 K 
 
194 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 forced both in public and in private, in 
 the cabin and among the seamen. To the 
 latter he took opportunities of speaking 
 in private, v^hen they were at leisure ; 
 they respected him more than any other 
 person I had ever observed in the capa- 
 city of passenger, either in this voyage 
 or any other, and I have reason to be- 
 lieve, that the bread, thus cast upon the 
 waters by that affectionate and exem- 
 plary follower of the Lamb, was found 
 after many days bringing forth fruit, 
 which will be to him a crown of rejoic- 
 ing for ever, more especially as the 
 seed had apparently taken root, where 
 he least expected, in the deepest part of 
 the waters, where the sea was most bois- 
 terous, and the prince of darkness had 
 his strongest entrenchments. 
 
 '' As a proof of the good, which his 
 Master made him the instrument of ac- 
 complishing among that long neglected 
 part of the British community, those 
 
MR. WILLIAM WARD. 195 
 
 that go down to the sea in ships, it may 
 be observed, that three of the seamen, 
 who returned with him, have been bap- 
 tized and united to churches ; three 
 more of their intimate seafaring friends, 
 and three females in their families have 
 followed their example. More also are 
 now enquiring, and praising the Lord for 
 his mercy and truth, but lamenting the loss 
 of that beloved and distinguished servant 
 of God. He seemed to feel much for 
 the wicked state, in which he found sea- 
 men, and on one occasion begged, as a 
 favour, that the steward might be re- 
 strained from swearing in the cabin, as it 
 '* made his very blood run cold." He 
 pointed out its heinousness in the sight 
 of God, and this had a very good effect, 
 as several of the officers were present, 
 by some of whom it is not forgotten to 
 this day. He lamented, also, very much 
 over the idolatrous state of India. 
 
 ** His habits were rather retiring; he 
 K 2 
 
196 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 read and studied much ; he rose early and 
 perused the New Testament before break- 
 fast, and was employed in his cabin the 
 whole of the forenoons and afternoons ; 
 in theevenings he refreshed himself in the 
 open air, on deck for an hour or two, when 
 he frequently got into conversation with 
 some of the unemployed sailors ; after 
 which he retired to his cabin, where he 
 again laboured until ten or eleven o'clock, 
 and then retired. 
 [ " He spoke much of England, and 
 ^ longed to arrive in time to attend the 
 annual meeting of the Bible Society. 
 He had the interest of his native country 
 much at heart ; when speaking of her 
 grandeur, &c. he used frequently to say, 
 * She is great, she is rich ; oh ! that she 
 may be good ; for she is the highly fa- 
 voured land.'") 
 
 ** I could write much about his af- 
 fectionate exhortations, but this will 
 perhaps suffice* 
 
 Ever yours, &c." 
 
MR. WILLIAM WARD. 197 
 
 The writer of the above has also fa- 
 voured us with the sight of a letter from 
 Mr. Ward to one of the individuals re- 
 ferred to, as having been impressed by 
 his serious and affectionate admonitions ; 
 though short, it is so interesting and 
 characteristic of the man, that we can- 
 not resist the desire of inserting it. It 
 was written at Liverpool just after he 
 had embarked for America. 
 
 The Nestor, Tuesday , October Srd, 1820. 
 
 My dear Friend, 
 
 '* I received with pleasure J. N's 
 letter last night, and thank you for for- 
 warding it. It was a high gratification 
 to me to see you at Liverpool, and espe- 
 cially at the Lord's table. I never 
 thought of you as likely to embrace the 
 Gospel ; I thought you far from the 
 kingdom of God ; but grace can bring 
 from the greatest possible distance, and 
 soften the heart hard as the nether mill- 
 K 3 
 
198 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 stone. I bless God on your behalf, and 
 pray, that you may be kept by his 
 power, even to eternal salvation. Your 
 safety lies in two words, humility, Christ, 
 Be lowly — live in the fear of the Lord 
 all the day, and make Christ your whole 
 happiness. Be wholly his ; live close 
 to him in your inmost spirit ; and seek 
 to taste much of his love. 
 
 *' May you have a good passage! I 
 shall rejoice, if T find you in Liverpool in 
 April next. The Lord, indeed, bless 
 and keep you, and make you a great 
 blessing to the souls of your crew. 
 " Your's &c. 
 
 W. Ward." 
 
 Early in the month of June, 1819, 
 Mr. Ward landed in Liverpool, after a 
 favourable voyage ; but in so emaciated 
 a state, that his friends, especially those 
 who had known him before he went to 
 India were deeply affected, and great 
 
^ MR. WILLIAM WARD. 19& 
 
 fears were entertained, that the remedy 
 resorted to would prove in vain. The 
 natural strength of his constitution, 
 however, aided by the universal kindness 
 he experienced, v\^herever he went, soon 
 produced a wonderful alteration, so that 
 he was enabled to undertake long 
 journeys, in all seasons of the year, in 
 the promotion of the great objects of his 
 mission, and, finally, returned home to 
 his family in such a state, as to promise 
 many years of active and successful ex- 
 ertion. Towards the end of the same 
 month he attended the annual meeting 
 of. the Baptist Missionary Society, and 
 preached one of the sermons on that 
 occasion at Zion Chapel, to a very nu- 
 merous and attentive congregation. Soon 
 after this he commenced a series of 
 journeys through England and Scotland; 
 first, in aid of the general cause of the 
 mission, and afterwards in behalf of the 
 native college, which was building at 
 K 4 
 
200 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 Serampore; preaching in every place, 
 and receiving many substantial tokens of 
 regard for himself, and the object, for 
 which he pleaded. For the promotion 
 of this cause, and to obtain information, 
 particularly with regard to the state of 
 the Mennonite congregations on the 
 Continent, he undertook a voyage to 
 Holland, and the north of Germany, 
 where he met with great kindness and 
 support. The result of his observations 
 on this tour he has presented to the 
 public in a small volume of letters, pub- 
 lished about the time he finally left 
 England. 
 
 In the course of his travels in England 
 he visited the scenes, among which he 
 had spent the days of his childhood and 
 youth, found out his few surviving re- 
 latives, and some of them being in poor 
 circumstances, he not only afforded them 
 a temporary relief, but provided for 
 them a more permanent supply. They 
 
MR. WILLIAM WARD. 201 
 
 remember, with grateful emotions, the 
 tenderness which he manifested to them, 
 and weep over the friend and relative 
 thus untimely snatched from them. He 
 also renewed his former intercourse with 
 some of the intimate friends of his earlier 
 days, and wept with affectionate interest 
 over the graves of those, who, during 
 his absence, had been translated to the 
 land of spirits, the regions of the blest. 
 On these occasions he so much conci- 
 liated the regard and esteem of many, 
 that they felt most severely the loss they 
 sustained in his departure, and his own 
 feelings were so tenderly excited, that 
 he stole away unperceived, in order to 
 avoid the pangs of a parting scene. 
 
 With a view to promote the object of 
 his voyage to England, as well as to 
 enlarge the circle of his friends, and 
 become personally acquainted with many, 
 whom he yet only knew by correspon- 
 dence, he determined to visit the United 
 K 5 
 
202 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 States of America. He embarked at 
 Liverpool, in the month of October, 1 820, 
 for New York, where, on his arrival, he 
 found many friends, who had not yet 
 seen his face in the flesh, moved by a 
 kindred spirit to greet him, as a faithful 
 servant of their common Lord, and to 
 further the cause, which he went to 
 advocate. In this new scene, too, he 
 was not an inattentive observer of the 
 state of manners, and particularly of 
 the state of religion around him; he made 
 many excellent and judicious remarks, 
 some of which he published in the same 
 volume of letters, to which we have 
 already referred, interspersed with the 
 acknowledgments of the friendly atten- 
 tions he had received. Whether it was 
 in the course of his tour in the western 
 world, that in witnessing something of 
 that extraordinary religious excitement, 
 which has for several years been disco- 
 vered there, he found his mind peculiarly 
 
MR. WILLIAM WARD. 203 
 
 interested, or that this impulse was of an 
 earlier date, we cannot say ; but it is 
 certain, that at this time he strongly ex- 
 pressed his sense of the necessity of a 
 still more remarkable out-pouring of the 
 Holy Spirit, and was very strenuous in 
 his endeavours to produce similar im- 
 pressions upon his Christian brethren, 
 and to excite them to ardent prayer for 
 this desirable event. One of his letters 
 is devoted to this subject, and it ex- 
 presses no other sentiments than those 
 which were continually falling from his 
 lips. 
 
 Mr. Ward returned to England early 
 in the month of April, 1821, but he did 
 not make any long stay; the object of 
 his voyage having been answered in the 
 re-establishment of his health, and the 
 collection of about three thousand pounds 
 for the college, he hastened to join the 
 circle of his family and friends at Se- 
 rampore, to resume the functions of his 
 
204 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 ministry among the heathen, and to 
 attend to the concerns of his printing- 
 office, which greatly needed his care. 
 He embarked for India a second time in 
 the Abberton, Captain Gilpin, May 28th, 
 1821, accompanied by Mrs. Marshman, 
 who had spent some time in England, 
 and followed by the blessings and 
 prayers of many, who now felt assured, 
 that they should see his face no more. 
 They might, indeed, from the recent 
 restoration of his health, and from his 
 having but just entered on the decline 
 of life, have expected to hear frequent 
 tidings of his successful labours among 
 the heathen ; but it pleased the all-wise 
 Arbiter of all things to disappoint these 
 hopes. He had been scarcely fifteen 
 months in the bosom of his family, 
 when he was called to finish his earthly 
 course. 
 
 Previously, however, to this solemn 
 event, we find him pursuing, with his 
 
MR. WILLIAM WARD. 
 
 205 
 
 usual assiduity, the important duties of 
 his station, and expressing the most 
 anxious concern for the prosperity of the 
 great cause. In a circular, addressed to 
 several of his friends not long after his 
 arrival at Serampore, he gives an in- 
 teresting account of the progress of the 
 mission, and of the translations, enume- 
 rates the several stations in occupation, 
 and describes their state; but as this 
 has been in the hands of numbers already, 
 through the medium of the press, it is 
 only necessary to quote one brief passage, 
 as descriptive of the habitual interest 
 which he felt in the advancement of the 
 work of God, especially among the 
 young. Speaking of the youths in the 
 native college at Serampore, he says : 
 
 '' 1 have much comfort in meeting the 
 students and the boys of the preparatory 
 school, morning and evening, for reading, 
 singing, and prayer. Oh ! it is truly 
 
206 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 cheering to hear these youths and children 
 singing in Bengalee, 
 
 * O thoii, my soul, forget no more 
 The friend, who all thy misery bore ! ' 
 
 ** Two students are already members 
 of the church, and are youths of great 
 promise ; and four more, apparently 
 under serious impressions, have solicited 
 baptism. Between thirty and forty 
 youths and children, born of converted 
 heathens, are thus brought under daily, 
 close, and serious christian instruction. 
 One morning the college native physician 
 said, as we sat down to worship, * Sir, 
 the boys have made a hymn and wish to 
 sing it.' I sat and listened to the hymn 
 in honour of the Saviour of the world, 
 made and sung by this interesting group, 
 with sensations of delight, which no 
 person, except he had been in the same 
 circumstances, could realize. The sounds 
 
MR. Wlis-LIAM WARD. 207 
 
 were carried on the bosom of the Ganges 
 to a sufficient distance, to be heard by 
 the Brahmins at their ablutions. Instead 
 of the brier shall come up the myrtle-treey 
 and it shall be unto the Lord for a name, 
 and for an everlasting sign, that shall Jiot 
 be cut off. On the Lord's Day these 
 youths are engaged in catechetical chris- 
 tian exercises, or in public worship." 
 
 *' * Since Mr. Ward's return to India," 
 says the writer of his obituary, "his health 
 had been for some time pretty good, but 
 latterly, the complaint, with which he 
 was so much afflicted previous to his 
 departure for Europe, appeared to be 
 returning upon him in so great a degree, 
 as to compel him to abstain from rice in 
 every form, from nearly all vegetables, 
 from beer and every kind of wine, and 
 from most kinds of meat. 
 
 * We quote an interesting obituary, published 
 soon after his death in the Monthly Friend of India, 
 and reprinted in England. 
 
20S MEMOIR& OF 
 
 ** By strictly observing this course, 
 however, and taking abundant exercise 
 on horseback, his health seemed much 
 improved, as to give us hope, that he 
 might be spared to us for years to come. 
 On the Sabbath preceding his death, he 
 was at Calcutta, and preached in the 
 evening from. Lead us not into tempta- 
 tion, in so searching a manner, as to 
 attract particular notice. He also at- 
 tended the Monthly prayer- meeting held 
 on Monday evening at the Loll- Bazaar 
 Chapel, after having spent the day in 
 visiting, for the last time, the flock he 
 so much loved. 
 
 " On Tuesday morning, March 4th, he 
 returned to Serampore in the boat with 
 Mrs. Marshman ; and on the way up 
 read to her a number of extracts from 
 Brainerd, making such remarks occasi- 
 onally, as sufficiently evidenced the state 
 of his own mind. He appeared quite 
 well the whole of that day, as well as 
 
MR. WILLIAM WARD. 209 
 
 the next, Wednesday the 5th, in the 
 evening of wdiich he preached the 
 weekly lecture, in the Mission Chapel at 
 Serampore, intended chiefly for the youth 
 there for education, from Mark xvi. 16. 
 — He that believeth arid is baptized shall 
 be saved, and he that believeth not 
 shall be damned. No one su&pected 
 that this was the last message he had to 
 deliver in his Great Master's name ; but 
 the close and poignant manner in which 
 he addressed them, seemed to excite 
 unusual attention. It was particularly 
 recollected, that in the course of his 
 Sermon, while he was exhibiting Christ 
 as the only Saviour, he repeated the 
 following verse : 
 
 * The best obedience of my hands 
 Dares not appear before thy throne ; 
 But faith can answer thy demands 
 By pleading what my Lord has done — * 
 
 and to impress it the more firmly on his 
 audience^ he repeated the verse a second 
 
210 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 time. The earnest afFection with which 
 he prayed for the salvation of his own 
 children in his last prayer, was particu- 
 larly remarked. 
 
 ** He retired to bed about ten, quite in 
 as good health as usual ; about five in 
 the morning of Thursday the 6th, he 
 felt himself affected with a bowel com- 
 plaint, and instead of taking his usual 
 morning ride, he returned to bed for an 
 hour. At the weekly meeting for prayer, 
 however, (which he and his colleagues 
 established more than twenty years ago, 
 and which, amidst every discouragement 
 and affliction, has not, we believe, been 
 omitted for three weeks in the course of 
 these twenty-two years,) he united with 
 his brethren and sisters as usual. Thus 
 after more than twenty -three years' la- 
 bour in promoting this object, in the 
 most assiduous and intense manner per- 
 haps ever known, he closed his public 
 life by uniting in prayer with his bre- 
 
MR. WILLIAM WARD. 211 
 
 thren for the continuance of the Divine 
 blessing on the work. 
 
 *' After the prayer-meeting, which from 
 the beginning has been held at seven in 
 the morning, he breakfasted with his 
 brethren and sisters at Dr. Marsh man's, 
 where it has been for many years the 
 custom of all, with any friend occasi- 
 onally at the Mission-house, to breakfast 
 together afterwards, and converse on the 
 things which relate to the advancement 
 of the kingdom of God around them. 
 He entered so much into discourse of 
 this nature that morning, that no one 
 suspected him to be at all ill, beyond his 
 having a slight bowel complaint, with him 
 not uncommon. He went into the Print- 
 ing-office as usual about ten, and among 
 various letters on business, he wrote 
 one to the brethren Peggs and Bramp- 
 ton at Cuttack, in the course of the fore- 
 noon ; the following extract from which 
 was sent to his afflicted family in an af^ 
 
212 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 fectionate letter from Mrs. Peggs, dated 
 the 14th March, the day after they had 
 received from Dr. Marshman the melan- 
 choly tidmgs of his removal. — *' In his 
 last note to us, dated March the 6th, he 
 says, ' How do you feel in your desires 
 after the Holy Spirit? We can have no 
 hope of success, but as we are brought 
 to a believing dependence upon his in- 
 fluences, and an earnest solicitude to ob- 
 tain them. Oh how I should like to be 
 among you, though only for one hour, 
 to sing a hymn with my dear sisters and 
 brethren Peggs and Bampton. What 
 hymn should we chuse, ' Jesus with all 
 thy saints above V — or, * Jesus I love 
 thy charming name ?" Mrs. Peggs pro- 
 perly adds, '* We see by this note, what 
 a happy frame of mind he was in just 
 before he was taken ill." He had indeed 
 been very ill in the Cholera many hours 
 before he wrote this note, although he 
 was scarcely aware of it, and continued 
 
MR. WILLIAM WARD. 213 
 
 SO assiduously pursuing that work of his 
 dear Redeemer, to which he had so 
 many years devoted every moment of 
 his life, not spent in sleep or refreshment. 
 About eleven. Dr. Marshman going 
 into the office and thinking he looked 
 very ill, earnestly questioned him on the 
 subject. Our beloved brother then told 
 him, that he had been quite ill in the 
 morning with a bowel complaint, and 
 imputed it to his having taken a little 
 cold during the night. Dr. M. then 
 begged him not to neglect this com- 
 plaint, but to have instant recourse to 
 medicine. Dr. M. however had not the 
 least idea of its being the Cholera, as 
 he had not then heard of his having 
 thrown up any thing, which is one of 
 the symptoms usually accompanying 
 this disease. The day after his death, 
 however, he learned with unspeakable 
 pain, that he had thrown up much bile 
 even before breakfast. 
 
214 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 '' Our lamented brother continued to 
 go on doing business in the Printing- 
 office till past twelve, in which interv^al 
 he wrote the letter to brethren Peggs and 
 Bampton, from which the quotation is 
 taken, which so fully discovers the happy 
 state of his mind. After this he began 
 a letter to the Rotterdam Bible Society, 
 which was found unfinished on his desk 
 after his death, from which it appeared, 
 that before he had finished the second line 
 he was constrained to desist, and retire 
 to his own room. Respecting his state 
 then, the following particulars have been 
 kindly given us by his eldest daughter : 
 
 '* When my dear father came from the 
 office and reclined on the sopha, I was 
 sitting in the same room writing a letter, 
 and my mother was busily engaged in 
 another room. I supposed he was fa- 
 tigued, and said nothing about his lying 
 down. When on the sopha, he in his 
 usual affectionate way asked me, what I 
 
MR. WILLIAM WARD. 215 
 
 was doing ? to which I replied, ' writing 
 a letter ' He was cheerful, and said 
 something which occasioned us both to 
 smile. Some time after, Mr. Solomon 
 came in and informed him that his child 
 was just dead of the Cholera : my be- 
 loved father assured him of his sympathy, 
 and gave directions to another native 
 brother to see that a coffin was made for 
 the child, adding, ' I fear I have some- 
 thing of the Cholera myself.' This 
 startled me ; for this was the first intima- 
 tion I had of his being ill. I asked him 
 to let me send for the doctor. He re- 
 plied, ' No child, 'tis nothing of conse- 
 quence.' Happily, however, I did not 
 wait for his leave ; but wrote to the 
 doctor, begging he would call im- 
 mediately to see my father. He came, 
 and my father again repeated his fears 
 that he had a slight attack of the Cholera. 
 The doctor told him there was no rea- 
 son to think so, and said he would send 
 
216 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 him some medicine. Just before the 
 doctor came, I went and told my mo- 
 ther, that I feared my dear father was 
 seriously ill. She was alarmed, and 
 asked him how he felt ; to which he re- 
 plied, ' not well,' but not as appearing to 
 apprehend any danger. It being dinner 
 time, and my father being asleep, we 
 thought it best to leave him, as he 
 seemed anxious to remain quiet. As 
 soon as dinner was over, I came into the 
 room where we had left him asleep ; but 
 not finding him there, I went into the 
 next room. Some minutes after I heard 
 him make a noise as if calling some one. 
 I approached him, and asked what he 
 wanted ; to which he replied, ' Nothing 
 child, only I feel very ill.' I imme- 
 diately ran to my mother, begging her 
 to come to my father. She came, and 
 learning from him that he had the cramp, 
 and feeling his hands cold, she burst in- 
 to tears, and kindly remonstrated with 
 
MR. WILLIAM WARD. 217 
 
 him for having concealed his state so 
 long. He begged her to make herself easy, 
 adding, ' Call brother Carey and brother 
 Marshman.' I ran instantly to do this, 
 and in a few minutes the alarm spread 
 through the premises, and brought the 
 brethren and sisters from every side. 
 Dr. Mundt had come again, and seeing 
 the disorder gain ground, prescribed 
 and applied what it seemed immediately 
 to require.' 
 
 '' While Dr. Carey and the sisters were 
 occupied about our brother. Dr. Marsh- 
 man took the boat and crossed the river 
 to Barrackpore, to bring more medical 
 aid. Meeting with Dr. Grierson at 
 home, who has succeeded Dr. Chalmers 
 there, and who kindly attended Dr. Carey 
 about three months before, he brought 
 him over with him. Dr. Grierson coin- 
 cided with Dr. Mundt respecting its be- 
 ing the Cholera, and among other things 
 they prescribed a hot bath. This he 
 
218 MEMOIRS OP 
 
 took about six in the evening, and 
 seemed greatly refreshed, but felt ex- 
 ceedingly inclined to sleep, or at least 
 to doze. The medical gentlemen then 
 intreated that he might be left to him- 
 self, in the hope of his getting a little 
 sleep, adding, that this would do more 
 for him than any medicine they could 
 give. In consequence of this, Mrs. 
 Ward and all his brethren and sisters 
 refrained from conversation v^ith him 
 on the state of his mind, and re- 
 mained w^aiting the issue in a state of 
 suspense, which words cannot easily de- 
 scribe. 
 
 '* About nine in the evening, he told 
 Mrs. Ward that he felt himself sensibly 
 better, and was not in any kind of pain. 
 This excited great hope, that he would 
 be able to obtain sleep during the night. 
 Four or five therefore remaining ^vith 
 him, among whom was our young bro- 
 ther, Mr. Brunsdon, who watched with 
 
MR. WILLIAM WARD. 219 
 
 him during the whole of his ilhiess as a 
 son over a father, and Mr. Williamson, 
 who being acquainted wdth medicine 
 himself, assisted with the two medical 
 gentlemen in consultations respecting 
 him, and remained with him continually 
 to see their prescriptions administered ; 
 the rest retired. Our deceased brother 
 remained quiet and free from pain, ap- 
 parently sleeping, till about ten at night, 
 when he complained of a pain in the 
 right side, particularly when he turned 
 himself, Mr. Williamson immediately 
 went to Dr. Mundt to consult him. He 
 advised a fomentation of the side, if the 
 pain should continue. This w^as tried, 
 and gave immediate relief. With this 
 exception he was free from pain, and 
 perfectly quiet during the night, appear- 
 ing in a dozing state and saying nothing ; 
 Mrs. Ward and his brethren, from the 
 fear of preventing his obtaining sleep, 
 still forbearing to converse with him, 
 L 2 
 
220 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 *' As in the morning there appeared very 
 considerable hope of his recovery, Dr. 
 Carey w^ent to Calcutta in the course of 
 his college duty as usual ; and Dr. 
 Marshman again v^ent over the river for 
 Dr. Grierson, that he might assist in con- 
 sulting relative to his case. On Dr. G's. 
 arrival, the medical gentlemen recom- 
 mended a clyster, as the calomel he had 
 taken during the night, had produced no 
 effect. It was hoped that this would 
 have relieved him greatly ; and that as he 
 had for so many hours been free from 
 pain, he would immediately have felt 
 better. Dr. Grierson indeed said, that 
 he thought there was no cause for alarm 
 respecting his case ; and to Mrs. Ward's 
 enquiry, our dear brother himself said, 
 that he felt better. The clyster how- 
 ever produced no effect ; but he still con- 
 tinued quiet and easy. Another clyster 
 was then prescribed ; but by the time it 
 was ready, he appeared so weak, that 
 
MR. WILLIAM WARD. 221 
 
 his medical attendants forbore to ad-' 
 minister it. He was still perfectly free 
 from pain however ; and as late as ten 
 in the morning we had hopes of his re- 
 covery. But about eleven Mrs. Ward 
 offering him something directed to be 
 given, he gently put it away with his 
 hand, and with a sigh said, '* Oh dear ;" — 
 which were the last words he was heard 
 to utter. Though he continued perfectly 
 quiet, and apparently free from pain, 
 about twelve his pulse declined so much 
 as to take away all hope ; and about 
 five m the afternoon he ceased to breathe, 
 in so imperceptible a manner, however, 
 that we for some moments were scarcely 
 aware that his happy spirit had left its 
 tenement of clay. Dr. Carey had re- 
 turned about an hour previously. His 
 step-son Mr. John Fountain, to whom 
 he had ever been the father, Mr. B. and 
 W. Marshman, had arrived from Cal- 
 cutta to see him, six or seven hours be- 
 L 3 
 
222 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 fore his departure; but he was too far 
 gone fully to recognize them. 
 
 '' Thus, in the fifty-fourth year of his 
 age, and the twenty-fourth of his mis- 
 sionary labours at Serampore, departed 
 one of the most faithful, disinterested, 
 and arduous labourers in the vineyard 
 of his Glorious Redeemer, that India 
 has ever seen. To enlarge on his cha- 
 racter here would be quite superfluous ^ 
 it is too well known to those who en- 
 joyed the happiness of his acquaintance, 
 for words to add any thing to the im- 
 pression it has left on the mind. The 
 next day, the news of his departure 
 having been sent early to Calcutta, the 
 Rev. Messrs. E. Carey James Hillj, 
 Adam, Schmid, and letter arrived from 
 thence to pay the last testimony of re- 
 spect to his memory, together with 
 Messrs. Penney, Lindeman, Pearce, 
 Kerr, Ricketts, and various other friends. 
 At five the corpse was conveyed to the 
 
MR. WILLIAM WARD. 223 
 
 mission burying-ground in a hearse, the 
 body together with the coffin being so 
 heavy, that it was feared our native 
 brethren and the friends around, would 
 not be able to convey it, as the 
 distance was nearly a mile. All of them 
 attended the funeral however, with the 
 servants of the printing-office, the paper- 
 mill, &c. to all of whom our deceased 
 brother Avas like a father. The various 
 gentlemen in Serampore and its neigh- 
 bourhood were also present, and a 
 -number from Barrackpore on the op- 
 posite side of the river. Previously to 
 moving the corpse from the house, the 
 Rev. E. Carey engaged in prayer ; at 
 the grave the Rev. James Hill gave out 
 the 84th Hymn in the Selection, Jesus 
 thy blood and righteous7iess ; after which 
 Dr. Carey addressed the congregation 
 on this afflicting and awful providence, 
 both in English and Bengalee ; and Dr. 
 Marshman concluded in prayer. 
 L 4 
 
224 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 *' The next Lord's-day week, the 16th 
 March, Dr. Carey preached a funeral 
 sermon for our deceased brother, at the 
 Loll-Bazaar Chapel in Calcutta, from 
 Prov. X. 17. The memory of the just is 
 blessed, to the largest congregation ever 
 seen at the chapel. Many friends of 
 religion, and multitudes drawn by per- 
 sonal esteem, taking this opportunity of 
 testifying their respect for his memory. 
 On Wednesday evening, the 19th, Dr. 
 Marshman preached a funeral sermon 
 for our beloved brother, in the Mission 
 Chapel, Serampore, at which were pre- 
 sent the Governor, his Excellency Col. 
 Krefting, and nearly every European 
 inhabitant of Serampore, both Danish 
 and English, with a number from Ishera 
 and Barrackpore. As he had fixed on 
 no passage of Scripture himself, Dr. M. 
 took this declaration of the Apostle's as 
 expressing the language of our deceased 
 brother s inmost soul ; By the grace of 
 
MR. WILLIAM WARD. 225 
 
 God I am what I am. At the request 
 of the Rev. James Hill, Dr. Marshman, 
 on the next Lord's-day, March 23rd, 
 preached a funeral sermon for him from 
 the same text to a congregation of per- 
 haps six hundred, at the Union Chapel, 
 the pulpit and desk of which were hung 
 with black as a testimony of esteem. 
 In this discourse a few particulars were 
 given respecting our deceased brother ; 
 with whom and Mrs. Ward, the preacher 
 and Mrs. Marshman had come from 
 England in the summer of 1799, and 
 whom he had therefore known in the 
 most intimate manner for nearly twenty- 
 four years. 
 
 ''In reviewing this sudden and afflictive 
 providence various reflections crowd on 
 the mind. The first are, those of almost 
 indescribable distress at the loss sustained, 
 not only by the denomination to which 
 our brother belonged, but by the churfch 
 and the cause of God at large, particularly 
 L 5 
 
226 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 as far as relates to India ; for although 
 his family and his immediate colleagues 
 in the work of God, feel the sense of 
 their loss increased by all that recollection 
 of his worth as a man, a christian, a 
 husband, a father, a colleague and bro- 
 ther, which the space of nearly twenty- 
 four years, spent in perhaps the greatest 
 degree of social happiness capable of 
 being enjoyed on earth, must continually 
 furnish ; our brother was not a man who 
 confined his regard for the cause of God 
 to one denomination. He loved all who 
 loved the Redeemer, and sought to pro- 
 mote his cause. Hence his death is a 
 public loss to religion ; and those particu- 
 larly, whose spiritual good he laboured to 
 promote, and whose hands he laboured to 
 strengthen by his preaching, his prayers, 
 and his extensive correspondence, whe- 
 ther they be in India, Europe, or 
 America, cannot but feel this bereave- 
 ment. 
 
MR. WILLIAM WARD. 227 
 
 *' But while we thus mourn the loss of 
 our beloved brother, and cherish the 
 most tender affection for his memory, it 
 becomes us to beware of sinning against 
 God under this dispensation. It becomes 
 us to recollect, that every thing which 
 rendered him so dear to us and such a 
 blessing to the cause of God, arose wholly 
 from the grace of God so richly mani- 
 fested in him. This grace still remains 
 an inexhaustible fountain. While we 
 mourn his loss in the deepest manner, 
 therefore, to suffer our hearts to sink in 
 despondency as though the Great Re- 
 deemer did not still live to carry on his 
 own work, He who is the Sovereign Head 
 of his Church, and from whom come not 
 only every gift intended for the use of 
 his cause, and all that diligence and love 
 which may enable a man, possessing such 
 to labour even more abundantly than 
 others, but the blessing which must 
 render these gifts and this labour effectual. 
 
228 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 and without which even a Paul might 
 plant, and an Apollos water wholly in 
 vain, — would be to sin against God, and 
 to act contrary to the examples left us 
 on Divine record. 
 
 '' The brethren at Serampore, indeed, 
 have been thus called to renew their 
 trust in God while wading through the 
 d^epths of affliction, even from the be- 
 il|inning of their course. We do not 
 Ahere allude merely to the fire at Seram- 
 pore eleven years ago, in which our dear 
 brother, now deceased, was himself al- 
 most miraculously preserved, and which 
 threatened to overwhelm us, but which, 
 through the divine mercy, was succeeded 
 by the divine blessing to a greater extent 
 than had ever been experienced at Se- 
 rampore before. We rather allude to 
 the repeated afflictions we were called 
 to sustain twenty-two years ago, when 
 so many of our missionary brethren were 
 in succession carried to the grave in the 
 
MR. WILLIAM WARD. 229 
 
 very infancy of the cause here. Within 
 eighteen days after our landing at Se- 
 rampore, Mr. Grant was carried off in 
 a fever; the four brethren and sisters 
 having arrived on the 13th of October, 
 1799, and he being removed on the 31st. 
 The succeeding July Mr. Fountain was 
 removed by a bowel complaint, within 
 four years after his arrival in the country, 
 and just as he had become ready in the 
 language. The next July beheld Mr. 
 Brunsdon carried off in the liver com- 
 plaint, scarcely twenty-six years of age, 
 and the most forward in the language, 
 as well as the ablest English preacher 
 among all the four brethren who came 
 out together. — And, to complete the 
 measure of affliction, the next October 
 Mr. Thomas himself, who had laid the 
 foundation of the mission in Bengal, and 
 had come out with brother Carey seven 
 years before, was taken away, at an age 
 two years below that of our now deceased 
 
230 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 brother. At that critical period, that 
 four of the only seven missionaries then 
 in this part of India should be removed, 
 and among them both the youngest and 
 the oldest, the ablest and the most active, 
 was indeed overwhelming, had we looked 
 merely to human aid. Yet nearly all 
 that has been done in this part of India 
 has been the fruit of the Divine blessing 
 since, experienced on humble and per- 
 severing effort, accompanied with con- 
 stant prayer. Surely, then, in every 
 affliction and bereavement we ought to 
 look directly and ivlwlly to Him with 
 whom is the residue of the Spirit — who 
 cannot be unmindful of his cause or of 
 his promise — and who has declared that 
 all nations shall be blessed in the Re- 
 deemer — and that He, Jehovah, will 
 accomplish this glorious work in his own 
 time. 
 
 *' Our beloved brother was so en- 
 deared to us in every capacity, that had 
 
MR. AVILLIAM WARD. 231 
 
 our feelings been consulted, we should 
 never have suffered him to enter into 
 rest but with ourselves ; the work for 
 which God pre-eminently raised him up, 
 was evidently that of printing the Scrip- 
 tures in India ; and we believe, that to 
 him was herein shewn grace and favour 
 granted to very few men before. To 
 the language of the apostle, which the 
 brother who came out with him well 
 recollects seeing in his diary in the 
 course of the voyage, thus applied with 
 reference to his own circumstances, 
 unto me, ivho am less than the least of all 
 saints, is this grace given, that I should 
 print among the heathen the unsearchable 
 riches of Christ, — could he have foreseen 
 the Divine goodness to him, he might 
 have added — *' in Twenty of their lan- 
 guages ;" for the Twentieth version of the 
 New Testament in the languages of India 
 printed under his eye, had advanced to 
 the book of Revelation at the time of 
 
'232 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 our beloved brother's removal ; and we 
 believe it has been granted to few men 
 in the church of God, ever to print the 
 New Testament of our Lord and Saviour 
 Jesus Christ in twenty languages spoken 
 among the heathen. But for the prepa- 
 ration of all those founts of types which 
 they required, and most of which had 
 never before been seen in India, was his 
 thorough knowledge of the art, his nice 
 discernment, his assiduity, his indefati- 
 gable diligence, his love for the cause of 
 his Redeemer, and the souls of the 
 heathen, peculiarly suited. Yet all these 
 founts prepared, and the difficulties 
 attending these first editions of the 
 Scriptures overcome, the way is now 
 made easy; — second and succeeding 
 editions with the same types, involve so 
 little difficulty, that the various native 
 Christian brethren and others, trained 
 up by our beloved brother for so many 
 
MR WILLIAM WARD. 233 
 
 years, can go on with the work under 
 common European superintendence. 
 
 ** Seeing, then, that infinite wisdom 
 and love thus guide all things, however 
 mysterious, and that these are ever the 
 same, — what remains, but that we all, 
 who have seen so many of the servants 
 of God around us removed in the past 
 year, adore in humble silence what we 
 are unable to comprehend — take new 
 courage, and go forward in the work of 
 Him, who will cause his church to 
 increase, till, like the stone cut out 
 without hands, it shall fill the whole 
 earth. And to animate us thus to abound 
 in the work of the Lord, and do our 
 own peculiar work in our day and gene- 
 ration, what can tend more than the 
 example and the end of our beloved 
 brother; whose life, at least for the last 
 twenty-four years, amidst all the diffi- 
 culties and trials he had to share with 
 his brethren, was one uniform course of 
 
234 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 of high usefulness and happiness of 
 mind ; and who, after so long a course 
 of bodily and mental labour, and spi- 
 rituality of soul, was in heaven adoring 
 before the throne of the I.amb, within 
 forty- eight hours after he had delivered 
 his last message for his glorious Redeemer 
 below!" 
 
 Thus terminated the earthly career of 
 one of the best of men, one who trod 
 humbly in the footsteps of his Divine 
 Master, whose meat and whose drink it 
 was to do the will of his heavenly Father, 
 and who, like him, thought that will 
 could not be better done, than by pro- 
 moting the eternal salvation of his fellow* 
 men. Though the nature of his disorder 
 precluded all hope of a copious dying 
 testimony, yet enough has been seen of 
 his habitual spirituality of mind and 
 devotedness to the work of God through 
 life, and of his anxiety for the spiritual 
 welfare of his friends up to the very 
 
MR. WILLIAM WARD. 2S5 
 
 moment of the last fatal attack, to leave 
 no doubt of the nature of his thoughts 
 in every lucid interval of his illness, of 
 the sincerity of his profession, or of the 
 security of his hopes. Rapture and 
 ecstacy were indeed beyond the compass 
 of his very feeble and exhausted frame ; 
 but it may be truly said of him, Mark 
 the perfect many and behold the upright ; 
 for the end of that man is peace. 
 
236 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 CHAP. V. 
 
 Containing a Brief Sketch of Mr. Ward's Character ^ 
 and a cursory Review of his Writings. 
 
 In his person Mr. Ward was of the 
 middle size, in the latter years of his life 
 inclining to corpulency, though he was 
 rather thin in his youth. His com- 
 plexion was naturally fair ; but long re- 
 sidence in a tropical climate, and expo- 
 sure to the diseases incident to such a 
 situation, had induced the usual swarthy 
 sallowness of countenance. His face 
 was finely formed, with a forehead rather 
 high and retreating, a Roman nose, a 
 small mouth, a double chin, and an 
 agreeable hazel eye, beaming with intel- 
 ligence, and the sweetest expression of 
 benevolence. He had a brown mark 
 over the side of his right eye, but which 
 did not at all detract from the general 
 
MR WILLIAM WARD. 237 
 
 pleasantness of his aspect ; and his head 
 was bald over the crown, which gave 
 him rather a venerable appearance for 
 his age. Altogether his physiognomy- 
 was very prepossessing, and nothing 
 could be more indicative of the genius 
 and temper of his mind. 
 
 His talents, of which we have already 
 spoken, were considerable, and his ac- 
 quirements highly creditable to his dili- 
 gence and perseverance. He was master 
 of a pleasing epistolary style, as all his 
 letters bear witness ; and his public 
 speaking was animated and striking. 
 The habit of holding conversations, and 
 argumentative discussions, which pre- 
 vails so much in the labours of mission- 
 aries among the Hindoos, had divested 
 his preaching of much of that ardent 
 appeal that once characterized it; but 
 there are some still living, who heard 
 him in his younger days, and well re- 
 member the impression that was pro- 
 
238 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 duced, scarcely, indeed, inferior to the 
 excitement effected by the most popular 
 preachers of the day. A brief extract 
 from one of his letters will give some 
 idea of the bold and discursive flights 
 his imagination would take, when rapt 
 into subjects of great and eternal moment, 
 and what powerful appeals he would 
 make to the hearts and consciences of 
 his infidel hearers. 
 
 *' How does my soul shrink from the 
 idea of annihilation ! How do I shudder 
 at the very possibility of a mistake in 
 my hopes of immortality ! But no ! — 
 
 * Engrav'd, as in eternal brass, 
 The mighty promise shines.' 
 
 Give scope, my soul, to all thy un- 
 bounded desires; let thy imagination 
 stretch itself; let all the figures in na- 
 ture be exhibited, — the blazing sun, the 
 glittering firmament, the beautiful land- 
 scapes, the swelling rivers, the fine cas- 
 
MR. WILLIAM WARD. 239 
 
 cades, the warbling groves, the circle of 
 friends, the most eloquent speakers, — let 
 them all be assembled, and the blessings 
 which they can confer be all my portion, 
 — take them away — / desire to depart 
 and to be ivith Christ, which is far better! 
 Oh eternity! eternity! eternity! how 
 am I lost in the incomprehensible feli- 
 cities, which God hath laid up in thee 
 for all those who love Jesus in sincerity ! 
 
 '' See the sceptic, lingering, shivering 
 on the shores of eternity, afraid to launch 
 away ! He asks, with increasing anxiety, 
 * Is there a God ? Is he holy ? Will he 
 punish ? What is his bar ? Is there a 
 place like heaven? Is there such a 
 place as hell ? Come, some soul from 
 the higher or lower regions, and resolve 
 my doubts ! ! What is it, that torments 
 me so in looking over my past life? 
 What are these rising horrors? Are 
 they indications of future punishment?' 
 
 ''Oh! to what an elevation is the 
 
240 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 christian raised! Amidst the howling 
 tempest — the convulsion of nature — the 
 crashing of the elements, he says, * The 
 Author of the storm is my blessed 
 Father, and not a hair of my head shall 
 perish.'" 
 
 His doctrine was pure ; equally free 
 from that spirit which exalts human na- 
 ture almost above the need of divine 
 grace, and that which disparages the 
 work of grace by reducing man to a 
 mere machine, and lowering the scale of 
 moral obligation. How justly he pre- 
 served the equilibrium between these 
 extremes, may be seen from the fol- 
 lowing expressions in one of his letters. 
 
 ''An expression in your last would 
 lead me to imagine, that you were de- 
 parting from orthodoxy. Remember, 
 my dear brother, there is a happy me- 
 dium betwixt the torrid zone of Anti- 
 nomianism, and the frigid zone of Soci- 
 nianism. There is a connecting of doc- 
 
MR. WILLIAM WARD. 241 
 
 trine, experience and precept together ; 
 let us hold these fast together ; they are 
 twins that must never be separated ; if 
 any one of them be cast away, the other 
 two will pine and die." 
 
 He was zealously and experimentally 
 attached to the great doctrines of grace ; 
 nor was he indifferent to the ordinances 
 and discipline connected with them; 
 but he had learned, that the bond of 
 christian union is the love of Christ, and 
 where he found this, he recognized the 
 Saviour's image, nor could he withhold 
 his affection. Hence, though in prin- 
 ciple and practice he most decidedly 
 held the doctrine of the baptism of be- 
 lievers by immersion; yet he could 
 freely walk with all those christians who 
 conscientiously differed from him in that 
 particular, and much regretted, that 
 differences on this, and other compara- 
 tively minor points, should have so di- 
 vided the church, that it unhappily ex- 
 
 M 
 
242 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 hibits little of that unity, for which our 
 Lord prayed, and which is finally to 
 have so powerful an effect on the unbe- 
 lieving world. (See John xvii. 22, 23.) 
 An extract or two will suffice to shew, 
 what were his views and feelings on this 
 subject, even in early life : the one is 
 from a letter written before he went to 
 India, and the other after he had been 
 some years in that country. 
 
 '' March 16, 1797. 
 
 '' The doctrines of the love of God, 
 the atonement, the resurrection and 
 kingdom of Jesus, are, I trust, more and 
 more precious to me. My views of 
 them are more consoling — my faith in 
 them more solid— and my peace and joy 
 more regular. Yet I can part with the 
 dogmas of enthusiasts — with the creeds 
 of bigots, with the utmost ease. If I 
 were asked for my creed, I could soon 
 give it : God is love. This is a faithful 
 
MR. WILLIAM WARD. 243 
 
 mylug, and worthy of all acceptatioUy that 
 Christ Jtsus came into the icorld to save 
 sinners. He that helieveth, shall he saved, 
 I will shew thee ray faith by my works. 
 If God so loved us, we ought also to love 
 07ie another. He that believeth not, shall 
 be damned. Were I going to establish a 
 church, I would have such a creed as 
 this, and I would subjoin to it an abridg- 
 ment of the christian morality, to an 
 obedience to which every one should 
 solemnly bind himself, and its precepts 
 I would regularly enforce on my people 
 at church-meetings," 
 
 " March 3, 1810. 
 
 '' I think you cannot abstain from 
 communion with any real christian, 
 whose moral conduct substantiates the 
 truth of his faith in Christ, without a 
 positive crime. The first law of Christ is 
 LOVE, and the first law of the infernal 
 regions is disunion. Hold the opinions, 
 M 2 
 
244 MEMOIRS OP 
 
 which you conscientiously find in the 
 Bible, and give none of them up to 
 please men : but, after all, the greatest of 
 these is love; and how you can love 
 christians in a proper manner, and be 
 shy with them, and avoid their commu- 
 nion, merely because their opinions are 
 not all like yours, and because they de- 
 mand the right of thinking for themselves, 
 as you do, is a perfect mystery to me. 
 I think the shutting out from commu- 
 nion such a man as Doddridge, or 
 Baxter, because he was a poedobaptist, 
 arises from the same spirit as that, 
 which burnt men alive : this is exclusion ; 
 that was exclusion from life . In one respect 
 the injury is small, because the person can 
 communicate with others ; but the strict 
 communionist, if he and another baptist, 
 and Doddridge lived together in a 
 country where there were no churches 
 of Christ, ought, on his own principles, 
 to shut out Doddridge from communion, 
 
MR. TvILLIAiM WARD. S45 
 
 though he could commemorate the 
 Lord's death nowhere else, and though 
 Doddridge lived in a state of the highest 
 communion with God, while these two 
 baptists, perhaps, were almost too loose 
 to be retained in a christian church. 
 We admit poedobaptists to communion 
 with us ; but should the Serampore 
 church change its practice, which, in my 
 opinion, is its glory, I would take all 
 proper occasions to protest against its 
 spirit ; but should I abandon all means 
 of doing good, because they acted 
 wrong ? Would not my opinions, mildly 
 and properly urged, be more likely to 
 do good, than if I left the church, and 
 placed myself at a greater distance from 
 my fellow-christians?" 
 
 For the expression of sentiments like 
 
 these, or rather for regretting that he had 
 
 found them so little prevalent in America, 
 
 on his visit to that continent, he wa-s 
 
 M 3 
 
246 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 attacked by a writer in one of the maga- 
 zines,* who piques himself much on the 
 superior purity and stedfastness of the 
 American Baptist churches. But it 
 should be considered, that christian 
 purity consists not merely in correctness 
 of sentiment, nor christian stedfastness 
 in the decided exclusion of those who 
 may diifer from us in matters, that do 
 not aiFect their faith in Christ, from the 
 privileges of the kingdom of God. While 
 the bond of christian union is the love 
 of Christ, which influences all his true 
 disciples, of whatever name or deno- 
 mination they may be ; while it is ac- 
 knowledged, that the doctrine of for- 
 bearance with those, that are weak in the 
 faith, is taught in the Scriptures ; while 
 it is confessed, that many things must 
 be forborne in christian fellowship, which 
 discover a temper more opposed to the 
 
 * New Evangelical Magazine. 
 
xMR. WILLIAM WARD. 247 
 
 meekness and gentleness of Christ, than 
 many differences upon ordinances, which 
 so sadly separate the church ; while it 
 must be granted, that nothing can be 
 scripturally a barrier to communion^ 
 which would not afford as justly a war- 
 rant for exclusion ; in fine, while the 
 christian church is to be considered as a 
 school, and believers as disciples, to teach 
 and be taught more perfectly the will of 
 their Divine Master; while ail, or any 
 one of these things are acknov/ledged, 
 it will be difficult to resist the convic- 
 tion, that we ought to receive one another, 
 even as Christ hath received us. 
 
 The spirit of christian love, displayed 
 in the foregoing extracts from Mr. 
 Ward's letters, breathed through all his 
 writings, and marked all his conversation 
 and demeanour. Though he was by no 
 means wanting in that gravity, which 
 commands esteem, yet he was gentle 
 -^i 4 
 
248 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 and unassuming; though firm in his sen- 
 timents, and holding no truth with a 
 loose hand, he was never dogmatical; 
 and even his reproofs of that which is 
 evil, were always tempered with meek- 
 ness. His disposition was naturally 
 kind ; but it was easily to be perceiv- 
 ed, that divine grace had done much 
 in sanctifying, refining and exalting it 
 to the noblest objects. The love of 
 Christ was the predominant affection in 
 his heart, and the glory of God in the 
 good of immortal souls, the great aim 
 of all his actions ; hence he seldom 
 lost an opportunity of pressing upon 
 the attention of those, in whose com- 
 pany he might be cast, the solemn con- 
 cerns of eternity, the value and danger 
 of their immortal souls, and the great 
 salvation provided in the Gospel : with 
 the young, particularly, he was very 
 earnest, and his manner was peculiarly 
 
MR. WILLIAM WARD. 249 
 
 attractive ; so that their hearts were 
 gained, and their thoughts rivetted to 
 the great subjects, on which he was 
 conversing. 
 
 His humility was no less remarkable 
 than his kindness ; as we have already 
 seen, he had an intimate knowledge and 
 a deep feeling of his natural depravity 
 and wretchedness, and not all the good, 
 which he was made the happy instru- 
 ment in effecting, could tempt him to 
 forget that he was still an earthen vessel. 
 In nothing was this lowly disposition 
 more remarkable, than in the temper 
 with which he received the admonitions 
 of his brethren. A friend having ob- 
 served to him, that, too much absorbed 
 in the desire of stirring up the minds of 
 christians in England to exert them- 
 selves in behalf of the heathen, he had 
 in one or two instances dwelt exclu- 
 sively on the degraded and wretched 
 state of the Hindoos, forgetting that 
 M 5 
 
260 MEMOIR!^ OF 
 
 there are many almost as ignorant and 
 as miserable in every large congregation, 
 even in this enlightened country, v^ho 
 would go away from his preaching 
 without any knowledge of that salva- 
 tion, which he had so freely and effec- 
 tually preached in India ; and that every 
 sermon should contain, however briefly, 
 an answer to the great question that 
 may be excited in the sinner's mind. 
 What shall I do to be saved ? he replied 
 in the following terms, strikingly ex- 
 pressive of his meek and unassuming 
 spirit. 
 
 London, September 16, 1820. 
 
 " I take it kind in you, my dear 
 brother, that you should have written 
 to me, and dealt faithfully with me, ac- 
 cording to your own views. I am con- 
 scious, that I have never yet preached 
 as I would have wished, or as I ought. 
 I agree with you, that it is the gospel 
 
MR. WILLIAM WARD. '2ol 
 
 as a message of salvation, which should 
 be in every sermon, and that this gospel 
 should be preached to every creature, 
 accompanied with all the persuasions to 
 accept it, which we find in the apostolic 
 example. Persuade men. Oh ! that 
 you may be greatly assisted in your 
 work, and have many seals to your 
 ministry ! Beware, however, that you 
 content not yourself with a cold indif- 
 ferent stating of what the gospel is. I 
 have little hope that you will win souls, 
 except you travail in birth again in 
 prayer and preaching. The idea, that 
 Jesus Christ has committed the success 
 of his mission to human agents, under 
 himself, makes me tremble. How shall 
 such a commission, from such a being, 
 the results of which are connected with 
 the eternal destinies of men, be properly 
 fulfilled ? The apostle persuaded, in- 
 treated, became all things to all men, if 
 by any means he might save some ; he 
 
252 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 was not a cold-blooded, official man, de- 
 livering a message with stoical indiffer- 
 ence, but he was, in his work, like a 
 man in the midst of a perishing crew 
 after a wreck. 
 
 *' Thine with the sincerest affection,. 
 
 W. Ward." 
 
 It is needless, after such a view of his 
 character, to observe, that he discharged 
 the relative duties of life with fidelity 
 and affection ; that he was a sincere 
 friend, an affectionate relative, a kind 
 husband, a tender parent ; that, as far as 
 human infirmity vfould permit, he was 
 all that could be expected of a benevo- 
 lent man, a real christian, a follower of 
 him, who was meek and lowly in hearty 
 adomhig the doctrine of God his Saviour 
 in all things. His feelings in these res- 
 pects are too unequivocally expressed 
 in the foregoing pages to be mistaken, 
 and many survive him, on whose me- 
 
MR. WILLIAM WARD. 253 
 
 mory his kindness has made too deep an 
 impression for time to obliterate ; who 
 witnessed his virtues and enjoyed his 
 society here, on whom his example has 
 operated, and is still operating to ani- 
 mate them to follow him, who through faith 
 ami patience is ?iow inheriting the promises. 
 Mr. Ward commenced his career as 
 an author, we have already seen, rather 
 early in life ; his first pieces, however, 
 were mostly essays in different news- 
 papers, and of the poetical class. In 
 this department he possessed a lively, 
 though perhaps not a very powerful 
 talent, and all his effusions were on the 
 side of humanity, morality, and religion. 
 As they were not numerous, and most 
 of them may be unknown to the great 
 majority of our readers, they are inser- 
 ted in an Appendix at the close of these 
 Memoirs. He had not, however, been 
 long in India, before he conceived the 
 plan of a Work to be entitled A viciv of 
 
254 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 the History, LiteraturCy and Religion of 
 the Hindoos, including a minute description 
 of their manners, and translations from 
 their principal luorks ; and immediately 
 began to put his design into execution. 
 About the year 1806 it made its first 
 appearance in two volumes quarto ; 
 satisfied with the reception it met with^ 
 in the year 1815 he published a second 
 edition, abridged and improved, in one 
 volume, in which he was encouraged by 
 the subscriptions of more than two 
 hundred and fifty individuals, of the 
 first rank in the service of the East 
 India Company. This work was af- 
 terwards reprinted in England in two 
 octavo volumes, and during his stay in 
 his native country in 1820 he published 
 two additional volumes ; so that alto- 
 gether it appears to have chiefly occu- 
 pied the intervals of at least twenty 
 years residence among the people to 
 whom it refers. Other writers had pre- 
 
MR. WILLIAM WARD. 255 
 
 ceded him in his course, particularly the 
 late deservedly celebrated Sir William 
 Jones, and the Rev. Thomas Maurice; 
 but their works, however veduable, were 
 too elaborate and recondite for general 
 perusal ; there was wanting a popular 
 treatise on the Mythology of the Hin- 
 doos, which should faithfully pourtray 
 its features, and correct the mistaken 
 notions, that too many individuals had 
 been led to form of the simple, mild and 
 virtuous nature of this idolatry ; that 
 should show, that, like every other dark 
 part of the earth, India also was 
 full of the habitations of cruelty, lust and 
 every abomination. This desideratum 
 Mr. Ward's book was admirably adapted 
 to supply. With sufficient research to 
 warrant the authenticity of all his state- 
 ments, for which he mostly gives his 
 authorities, he never perplexes his rea- 
 ders with long discussions of intricate 
 questions, which, indeed, if satisfactorily 
 
256 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 decided, would not compensate for the 
 trouble of the enquiry ; and with no 
 bias to make him think lightly of idolatry, 
 or palliate its enormities, he gives a plain, 
 unvarnished tale, and is stayed by no- 
 thing, except (and this is not uncommon 
 in Hindooism) the foulness, which would 
 pollute a christian page, and offend a 
 christian's eye. 
 
 The author commences with a par- 
 ticular account of the Hindoo theology, 
 in which he satisfactorily shews, that the 
 notion of the unity of God has no ex- 
 istence even in the first elements of that 
 idolatrous system, and that none of the 
 attributes or actions of their deities 
 are calculated to teach it; a fact 
 equally demonstrable of the, nominally, 
 more refined mythologies of Greece and 
 Rome ; and that its origin cannot be 
 traced to any instructive design in phi- 
 losophers to teach science, or in poets 
 to gratify the taste of their hearers and 
 
MR. WILLIAM WARD. 257 
 
 readers, but to their ancient kings, who 
 wished to please the populace, and fre- 
 quently to deify themselves. He then 
 takes a view of their Gods, relating 
 some of their principal actions extracted 
 from their own authors ; by which it 
 appears, that these beings were not be- 
 hind the classical deities, already referred 
 to, in vice and cruelty ; and shows that 
 every object in creation has been adored 
 by them, down to even stones and logs of 
 wood, strikingly illustrating the descrip- 
 tion given of the heathen nations in holy 
 writ ; see Rom. i. This is followed by a 
 description oiih^ix temples, images, priests, 
 forms and times of worship, religious duties 
 and ceremonies, with anecdotes of their 
 cruel rites of self-devotion, the destruc- 
 tion of infants and aged and dying 
 persons, the immolation of widows on 
 the funeral pile of their husbands, &c. 
 An account of their religious doctrines, 
 mendicant saints, and their different sects, 
 
258 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 with some concluding remarks on the 
 extensive prevalence of this superstition, 
 and illustrations of scripture from Hindoo 
 manners and customs, closes the first 
 series of this interesting work. 
 
 The two latter volumes comprize re- 
 marks on the high antiquity of the Hin- 
 doo nation, researches into their history, 
 observations on their civilization, civil 
 and criminal laws and the administration 
 of them, connected with some parti- 
 culars of the British government, and 
 the various institutions introduced by 
 the British into India. Then follows a 
 description of the manners and customs 
 of the Hindoos, which closes the third 
 volume. The fourth commences with a 
 remark or two on the Bengalee lan- 
 guage, translations from some of their sa- 
 cred books, and philosophical writings; 
 then follow an account of their philoso- 
 phical systems, and a comparison of them 
 with those of the Greeks and other nations ; 
 
MR. WILLIAM WARD. 259 
 
 the doctrines they taught, are then dis- 
 cussed at large, and an account is given 
 of the books they have published on 
 history, geography &c. The execution 
 of the work is highly creditable to the 
 author's talents and industry, and from 
 the numerous facts which it contains, 
 and the just views it furnishes of the 
 dreadful nature of the prevailing super- 
 stitions, it would not be presumptuous 
 to express a conviction, that it will here- 
 after prove an acquisition to any one 
 who wishes to study the state of that 
 very interesting part of the world. 
 
 Previously to the completion of this 
 work, Mr. Ward published several single 
 sermons ; two of these were on oc- 
 casions of the decease of his friends, 
 particularly one preached on account of 
 the death of his intimate friend, Mr. 
 Sedgwick of Hull, on the 13th of April, 
 1806. Just after he came to England, 
 in 1819;^ he printed a sermon on the con- 
 
260 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 straining influence of the love of Christ, 
 2 Cor. V. 14, 15. This discourse is no 
 mean specimen of his best manner as a 
 preacher; but its principal excellence 
 consists in the ardent, missionary spirit, 
 that breathes through it ; he enforces on 
 all believers the duty of living only to 
 the Lord, and so powerfully contrasts 
 with this the opposite tendency of the 
 human heart to seek its own gratifica- 
 tion, that the spirit of selfishness shrinks 
 cowed and abashed before the appeals 
 of this devoted servant of Christ. Who- 
 ever wishes to see the zeal of christians 
 re-animated, and a fervent desire en- 
 kindled in them for the salvation of their 
 families, their relatives, and their friends 
 around them ; to see real benevolence 
 extending itself in widening circles, un- 
 til it embrace the spiritual wants and 
 welfare of the whole brotherhood of 
 man ; cannot better attain his wish than 
 by a wide diffusion of the sentiments 
 contained in this excellent sermon 
 
MR, WILLIAM WARD. 261 
 
 But the work in which, we confess, 
 we like him best, and which seems cal- 
 culated to be most useful in exciting 
 that missionary exertion, which is need- 
 ful to evangelize the world, is that en- 
 titled, Farewell Letters, published, 
 as we have before mentioned, just as he 
 was leaving his native country for the 
 last time. They were written partly on 
 his voyage from America, and partly be- 
 tween the period of his arrival in England, 
 and his departure for India ; and are 
 addressed to different individuals amonof 
 his friends, both in the old and in the 
 new world. Some of them are devoted 
 to the description of the state of the 
 heathen nations, particularly the Hindoos ; 
 in a very lively and affecting manner he 
 pourtrays the present spiritual condition 
 of the world, the superstitions, cruelties 
 and impurities connected with the wor- 
 ship of India, and the state of female 
 society there ; and calls upon the friends 
 
262 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 of divine truth to a greater union in 
 prayer for the out-pouring of the Holy 
 Spirit. In some others he speaks of the 
 success, which in different respects have 
 attended the efforts to evangelize the 
 Hindoos, and expresses his confident 
 hope of the final triumphs of the gospel 
 over the v^orld. A few of them contain 
 details of the Mennonite churches in 
 the Netherlands, and the general state 
 of religion in Holland, which he had 
 collected during his tour in those coun- 
 tries; and the volume closes with two 
 letters on the progress of religion in 
 America, and the state of the episcopal 
 churches there, and another on the 
 visible answer to prayer in the present 
 remarkable movements among the hea- 
 then. They are all very excellent, but 
 if we were to select any, which are cal- 
 culated to be most particularly useful in 
 stirring up professed christians to a strong 
 sense of their obligations to spread the 
 
MR. WILLIAM WARD. 263 
 
 knowledge of the Saviour, and a just 
 view of the spirit in which they should 
 prosecute this great work, we should 
 point out letters 2nd. 3rd. 6th. 7th. 10th. 
 and ]7th. The style is perspicuous and 
 animated ; indeed if Mr. Ward excelled 
 in any species of writing, it was in the 
 epistolary style, and several of the let- 
 ters in the foregoing pages are not in- 
 ferior to any already published. The 
 first edition of this interesting work 
 being out of print, a second has been 
 published, and we cannot doubt that the 
 demand for it will continue. 
 
 Soon after Mr. Ward's return to India 
 he drew up, and transmitted to several 
 friends in England, a choice little Me- 
 moir of Kristno Pal, another of the 
 native preachers, who had been removed 
 from his labours to his reward, leaving 
 behind him a decided and joyful testi- 
 mony to the truths he had preached. 
 This little tract has been reprinted in 
 
204 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 this country, and is, doubtless, in the 
 hands of many. 
 
 The last work, which had probably 
 occupied much of his time, and which 
 he appears to have finished only a very 
 short period before his death, consists of a 
 series of devotional meditations on select 
 passages of holy writ for every day in 
 the year, in two volumes duodecimo. 
 It is a little in the manner of Mason's 
 Spiritual Treasury ; but the observations 
 are more extensive, and at the head of 
 each portion is the passage selected, 
 with a few various readings, and the 
 particular application of the text. From 
 a very cursory survey of one of these 
 volumes, and the opinion of a highly 
 respected and judicious friend, we see 
 no reason to think that this work falls 
 short of any of his former productions 
 in experimental savour or practical god- 
 liness, while the author manifests the 
 same missionary ardour in frequent 
 
MR. WILLIAM WARD. 265 
 
 allusions to the state of the heathen na- 
 tions, and other topics so very natural 
 to the mind and feelings of a christian 
 missionary. If, however, an edition of 
 them should be printed in England, and 
 we fervently hope that this will be the 
 case, we would just suggest a hint or 
 two to the editors, subject to the revision 
 of their better judgment. It would 
 seem advisable, that no different render- 
 ings should be quoted, except those that 
 are of the most unquestionable authority; 
 the nature of the work not admitting of 
 those critical discussions, which are 
 necessary for the detection of false and 
 erroneous readings, it is not wise to raise 
 a spirit of doubt, when there is no proper 
 opportunity to lay it to rest. We think 
 too, we observed a few misapplications 
 of some parts of the Scriptures, which 
 are subject to the same remark. If in 
 these particulars the work undergo a 
 careful revision, we are persuaded it will 
 
266 MEMOIRS OF 
 
 be more acceptable to the readers for 
 whom it was designed, and more un- 
 mixed benefit will result from the pe- 
 rusal. 
 
 On the whole, considering the age at 
 which he died, and the numerous and 
 important avocations which filled up the 
 principal part of his life, he must have 
 well improved his intervals of leisure to 
 be able to accomplish so much ; and it is 
 no small praise, that every thing he wrote 
 displayed the most feeling heart, and 
 was devoted to the best interests of his 
 fellow creatures. Whether his works 
 will descend through many ages of pos- 
 terity, and secure his name an imperish- 
 able reputation in the world, may not 
 be easily determined ; but while genuine 
 Christianity and ardent missionary zeal 
 shall be held in esteem, his memory will 
 be cherished; his enduring monument 
 will hereafter be found in converted souls, 
 and with those, whose labours have been 
 
MR. WILLIAM WARD. 267 
 
 owned in turning many to righteousness, 
 he will shine as a star in the kingdom of 
 his heavenly Father. Let us remember, 
 that the best memorial we can preserve 
 of him, will be found in the imitation of 
 his excellencies, m following him, even as 
 he followed Christ. 
 
 N 2 
 
APPENDIX, 
 
 CONTAINING 
 
 SEVERAL OF MR. WARD'S POETICAL EFFUSIONS, 
 
 Most of which were first published ia the newspaper at Hull ; 
 ANU 
 
 A MONODY TO HIS MEMORY. 
 
 ON THE LOSS OF MR. WILBERFORCE'S BILL FOR 
 THE ABOLITION OF THE SLAVE TRADE. 
 
 Say, ye Caligulas in Britain born, 
 Ye who, tenacious of your bill of rights, 
 Can buy and sell your brother's rights and blood, 
 Can coldly calculate and bless your store, 
 Gain'd by a thousand murders of your kind : 
 What is it sanctifies your daring crimes ? 
 We punish here, with chains and certain death, 
 The wretch who dares what's good for nothing 
 steal ; 
 
 N 3 
 
270 APPENDIX. 
 
 And shall ye then escape, who steal mankind, 
 Who take the orphan from his mother's lap, 
 The husband from the embraces of his wife, 
 The father from his home and family, 
 And drive them chain'd, to exile and to death? 
 Ah ! if the widow's prayer, the orphan's sigh. 
 Can reach the gracious ear, and raise the arm, 
 Divinely just, then are your fetters forg'd; 
 Then is your endless slavery decreed ! 
 
 Have ye not read, ye traffickers in tears. 
 That they are bottled* by the tender care 
 Of him who keeps a record of the wrongs 
 or all his creatures ! — say, will ye then wait, 
 The grand decision of that awful day, 
 When the poor Negro's cause shall interest 
 Assembled worlds ! when wrongs shall be repaid ? 
 Oh ! what a scene of blood, of injuries 
 All unredress'd, will India then present ! 
 Will ye then name your rights of property ? 
 
 But in a British Senate, shall the cause 
 Of human misery be urg'd in vain ? 
 Shall all the powers of eloquence, employed 
 To shew a nation that excess of woe, 
 
 * Psalm Ivi. 8. 
 
APPENDIX. 271 
 
 IVhich Afric's sable sons feel, when engag'd 
 
 In raising luxuries for this christian land. 
 
 Be exercis'd in vain ? 
 
 Shall the recital of those flagrant ills. 
 
 At sight of which a demon would recoil. 
 
 Meet with a hideous laugh,* in face of heaven ? — 
 
 I blush to own you for my fellow men ! 
 
 Soon shall the ties of interest be dissolv'd. 
 When Justice gives command, and Mercy's reign 
 Shall break the fetters of the injur'd slave ; 
 Restore him back to friends, to his own rights, 
 Possessions and the dignity of man. 
 The time approaches fast; the dawn I see ; 
 And the exertions of a patriot band, 
 Foretel the exit of this horrid trade 
 Of Man in Man ! 
 
 W. 
 Hall, March 20, 1796. 
 
 * This part of these lines was written immediately 
 after the loss of a former Bill of Mr. Wilberforce's, in 
 the debate on which, in the House of Commons, 
 several members laughed, when Mr. Smith was de- 
 scribing the cruelties inflicted upon a poor Negro. 
 
 X 4 
 
272 APPENDIX. 
 
 SONNET. 
 
 To the memory of the Rev. Dr, Baker, late Rector 
 of Kedleston, near Derby. 
 
 Not for the glare of monumental fame, 
 Not that the gay, the great, should chaunt my name^ 
 But that some friend, to love, to virtue dear. 
 Should sometimes pass my grave, and drop a 
 silent tear. 
 
 Not that the jovial board my worth should boast, 
 And o'er each damning bowl my memory toast; 
 But that my name be found 'mongst those that 
 
 save. 
 From traffic's horrid fangs, the broken-hearted 
 
 slave. 
 
 Not that some bigot should relate my deeds. 
 How versed I was in party feuds and creeds ; 
 But that some kindred mind my path may trace, 
 And say, " I saw my Strephon nobly end his 
 
 Such was thy will, my friend, and still thy name 
 
 shall live. 
 While et^rth contains a mind, worthy the mead to 
 give. 
 
 W. 
 Hull, 1796. 
 
APPENDIX. 273 
 
 TO THE REDBREAST. 
 
 A SONNET 
 
 Imcrihed to the Memory of the late Mrs. Drewry, 
 wife of Mr. Joshua Drewry, printer of the 
 Staffordshire Advertiser, Stafford, ivho died Aug. 
 3i; 1796, aged 22. 
 
 Hull, September, 1796. 
 
 Go, winter songster, to Charissa's tomb. 
 Beneath yon willow's hospitable shade ; 
 
 Take there thy mate, and build thy future home ; 
 No ruffian hands will dare the spot invade. 
 
 There shall your matin song, and vespers sweet, 
 And love connubial, and maternal care, 
 
 Invite the passenger's enquiring feet. 
 
 And show the name to all the virtues dear. 
 
 Was it with omens dire thou did'st appear,* 
 To warn the youth of his Charissa's fate, 
 
 That soon within those walls her mournful bier 
 Should teach, how frail our bliss, how short its 
 date! 
 
 Yet shall she live while memory holds her seat. 
 
 And love and friendship oft her' name repeat. 
 
 * This alludes to the circumstance of a red-breast 
 alighting on the communion table, during the perform- 
 ance of the marriage ceremony. 
 N 5 
 
274 APPENDIX. 
 
 SONNET. 
 
 To the Memory of Chatterton. 
 
 Ah ! hapless youth, how do my spirits sink. 
 While o'er thy page I cast a sorrowing eye ; 
 
 Oft I recal the gloomy scene, and think 
 
 Why must a Chatterton thus friendless die ? 
 
 Oh! that to **** thy rescue had been given, 
 Not bread alone his hand would have bestow'd ; 
 
 From thy torn heart fell Vice had, too, been driven, 
 And Virtue's softest tears on thy return have 
 aow'd. 
 
 Oh ! would my country rear a soft'ning shade. 
 And for her humble Chattertons provide, 
 
 There should our poet's head be softly laid. 
 
 And there should mine be plac'd to moulder by 
 its side. 
 
 Yes, hapless youth ! thy mem'ry still is dear, 
 While o'er thy faults, thy fate, I drop the pitying 
 tear. 
 
 W. 
 Hull, December, 1796. 
 
PPENDIX. 275 
 
 SONNET. 
 
 Firm, just, and generous was Amyntas' mind, 
 Vast in expansion, form'd to bless mankind ; 
 O ! could his hand have reach'd to every shore, 
 Laden with bliss — then man had wept no more. 
 
 Sure, soft affection with her filial charms. 
 And holy friendship, with her fostering arms, 
 In his large soul their matchless power had shewn, 
 And pity's hand had mark'd him for her own. 
 
 ** I have no father," fair Charissa said, 
 And drop'd a tear o'er her fond parent dead,— 
 The listening, gazing youth no more delay'd. 
 But to his bosom took the plaintive maid ; 
 
 '' I'll be thy father" — thus each murmur sliiFd, 
 And all the import of that name fulfili'd. 
 
 ^y. 
 
 Hull, Decemher 27, 1796. 
 
276 APPENDIX. 
 
 TO THE YEAR 1796. 
 
 Farewell ! — with all thy tragic scenes I 
 Scenes that have made our world a hell ; 
 
 Where not a glimmering intervenes. 
 And death unceasing tolls the knell 1 
 
 See commerce sleeping on her sails ; 
 
 See labour starving in his loom 
 Or dragg'd, 'midst unavailing wails^ 
 
 To an unconsecrated tomb. 
 
 Religion !— they blaspheme her name ! 
 
 She never breathes the angry pray'r ; 
 Her torch ne'er spreads the dreadful flame, 
 
 That lights to ruin and despair. 
 
 O G******d ! lend a pray'r, a tear, 
 
 T' avert these horrors from the present year. 
 
 Written whik the author is supposed to be standing 
 on the bank of the Trent, in the church yard at 
 Burton, Staffordshire. 
 
 Slow and unrufiied is thy silver stream, 
 
 Fair Trent, as by the tombs it silent moves, 
 
 While on thy bosom Cynthia's placid beam 
 The madd'ning tempest of my soul reproves. 
 
APPENDIX. 277 
 
 Ah ! when life's storms are o'er, I'll charge some 
 friend 
 
 To bear my dust to this serene retreat ; 
 And bid his peaceful footsteps here attend. 
 
 To hear the grove my funeral hymn repeat. 
 
 Here sleeps a youth, who fled from haggard strife, 
 Earth's boist'rous joys ne'er led his soul astray ; 
 
 " But down the smooth, sequestered vale of life, 
 He led the noiseless tenor of his way." 
 
 Yet to his sight pale Sorrov\*s form was known, 
 *' And Melancholy mark'd him for her own." 
 
 Hull, January 1797. 
 
 ON THE NECESSITY OF SOLITARY CONFINE- 
 MENT IN GAOLS. 
 
 See in the place, where vice should meet a cure, 
 A wretched herd, with hearts and hands impure, 
 Form'd in a band to fit for greater harms. 
 The young offender fled from virtue's charms.* 
 
 * How many human victims might be saved in their 
 youth, if separate confinementj labour and religious 
 instruction were introduced into our prisons. 
 
278 APPENDIX. 
 
 Here he is taught to laugh at weeping friends. 
 
 And gracious counsel which their pity sends ; 
 
 A partner's sorrows, with her infant train, 
 
 Beg for admission to his heart in vain ; 
 
 Or if he listen to their tender plaint. 
 
 And cheer the heart by grief and sickness faint. 
 
 Point their last hope to scenes of future joy. 
 
 When he, releas'd, will all his powers employ 
 
 In the fond charge of father, husband, friend. 
 
 And with his life his future kindness end — 
 
 Alas ! his vows and promises are vain ; 
 
 He but returns to that black band again. 
 
 And all is lost — a father's tender care. 
 
 A husband's pity — all are buried there 
 
 In pois'nous converse, and at length unchain'd, 
 
 (His more than savage passions unrestrained,) 
 
 He falls a victim to that fatal plan, 
 
 Fatal to all the energies of man !* 
 
 If Britons, then, revere a Howard's name, 
 
 If they would wish t' immortalize his fame. 
 
 Let them adopt the plans his wisdom fram'd. 
 
 To give them which he toils and death sustained. 
 
 * " It is doing little to restrain the bad by punish- 
 ment, unless you render them good by discipline." 
 Inscription on a house of correction at Rome. — See 
 Howard's Appendix to his state of the Prisons in En- 
 gland and Wales. 
 
APPENDIX. 279 
 
 This monument will shine when stones decay ; 
 Without this, Howard's life is thrown away; 
 And the inscription of his glorious name, 
 On faithless stones, will but record our shame. 
 
 W. 
 
 Hully March 28, 1797. 
 
 SONNET TO ENVY. 
 
 Ah ! cruel Envy ! thy malignant darts, 
 Forg'd in the dark recesses of the mind, 
 
 Dipp'd in the gall and pride of callous hearts. 
 Pierce thro' the soul, and leave the sting behindo 
 
 Ah ! cruel Envy ! from thy sullen look. 
 Flies modest Merit to her humble shade. 
 
 There seeks a covert from thy hard rebuke. 
 And on the lap of Friendship rests her head. 
 
 But Ah ! nor Friendship's generous arms can 
 screen. 
 
 Nor peaceful shades seclude thy ruthless form ; 
 But still pursu'd by thy insatiate spleen. 
 
 She sinks beneath the overwhelming storm. 
 
 Parent of black designs ! yet will 1 not complain, 
 Tho' I may feel thy wrath, if I escape thy reign. 
 
 Hull, April 1797. 
 
2S0 APPENDIX. 
 
 SONNET, 
 
 Addressed to the Poor and Stranger's Friend Society, 
 Hull 
 
 Apostles of humanity ! accept the lay, 
 Which your difFus'd philanthropy inspires. 
 
 Which all the virtues ask the muse to pay, 
 
 While want confounded from the sound retires. 
 
 'Tis yours to gladden with celestial day 
 The cell of poverty, so drear and cold ; 
 
 To teach th' unlettered multitude to pray, 
 And Truth's immortal prospects to unfold. 
 
 'Tis yours to wipe the sad repentant tear. 
 And fill with hope divine affliction's child ; 
 
 The widow'd matron's sorrowing heart to cheer. 
 And bless her orphans with instructions mildo 
 
 'Tis yours to spread religion's happy reign^ 
 And bid the moral world revive again. 
 
 Hull, May 8, 1797. 
 
APPENDIX. 281 
 
 SONNET. 
 
 On seeing a boy with a bird's nest. 
 
 Return, foul savage, to that peaceful shade. 
 Whence thy rude hand those helpless young 
 
 has toiTi, 
 Didst thou not hear the shrieks, the cries forlorn, 
 
 Which, mad with grief, the widow'd parents made. 
 
 Haste and replace them in the sacred spot, 
 Sacred to love, to tenderness and care ; 
 Ah ! did thy heart such soft endearments share, 
 
 Sure, it would bleed to see their helpless lot. 
 
 But ah ! in vain I plead, he hastes away ; 
 
 In vain I urge their infant cause with tears ; 
 
 Proud of the barbVous spoil, he shuts his ears, 
 And hugs a prize he scarce can keep a day. 
 
 So man his vices hugs, nor heeds the smart, 
 Wrung from the wounds of virtue's broken heart. 
 
 Hull, June 26, 1797. 
 
282 APPENDIX. 
 
 ODE TO FRIENDSHIP. 
 
 Friendship ! sweet source of every joy, 
 Thy smiles each frown of fate defy, 
 
 O let me call thee mine ; 
 With thee I'll brave the heaviest storm, 
 Distress and woe in every form ; 
 
 O make this bosom thine. 
 
 The happy pair, who own thy reign, 
 Enjoy what monarchs seek in vain. 
 
 And share the sweets of life; 
 Thus home amidst the warbling grove, 
 The seat of Virtue and of Love 
 
 Is free from care and strife. 
 
 Here Kindness wipes the trav'Uer's tear, 
 Here Tenderness and Grace appear 
 
 To cheer the drooping mind ; 
 Here sickness finds a healing balm. 
 Here troubles grow divinely calm. 
 
 Where love and friendship's join'd. 
 
 This consecrated, blissful seat, 
 Affords a safe and sweet retreat. 
 From grief and haggard care ; 
 
APPENDIX. 283 
 
 Here streams of fond atFectioii rise, 
 And sympathy that never dies, 
 To bless the happy pair. 
 
 Hail Friendship ! Queen of earthly joys. 
 Without thee, diadems are toys 
 
 And vain is nature's store. 
 With thee I would for ever rest. 
 Made by thy smile supremely blest ; 
 
 Nor ask the world for more. 
 
 Hull, July lOtJi, 1797. 
 
 STORM AT SEA. 
 
 Descriptive of the piece of music under that title, 
 composed for the Organ hj Mr. Baker, Stafford. 
 
 Till over head a sheet 
 Of lived flame discloses wide, then shuts 
 And opens wider ; shuts and opens still 
 Expansive, wrapping ether in a blaze : 
 Follows the loose and aggravated roar, 
 Enlarging, deep'ning, mingling, peal on peal, 
 Crush'd horrible, convulsing heaven and earth. 
 
 ThOxMPSON. 
 
284 APPET^DIX. 
 
 Tending his flock, the gay Philetes sat 
 
 Beneath the hawthorn's shade. The sun's mild 
 
 beams, 
 His happy charge, his simple pipe, the tune. 
 The fav'rite air and song his Flora sung, 
 The placid murm'ring of the quiet stream, 
 And moontide stillness, pour'd upon his soul 
 The calm delight of virtue's matchless reign. 
 
 At length the gath'ring cloud, and waking breeze 
 Announce th' approaching storm. He looks 
 
 around — 
 The distant thunder warns him to secure 
 A safer shade, and lay his pipe aside. 
 
 The thunder ceases, and Philetes soon 
 His seat regains, and finishes his song. 
 But now the dull dark clouds in haste return — 
 He leaves the field, and goes to calm the fears 
 Of Flora's timid breast. The heaving storm 
 Bursts with redoubled force — the rattling hail 
 Breaks the young foliage from the verdant trees, 
 And frays the harmless songsters sheltered there. 
 The roaring thunder, more tremendous still. 
 Affrights the howling herd—affects the soul 
 Of reasoning man, with all the solemn fears 
 Of that dread day, when nature's dying throes 
 
APPENDIX. 285 
 
 Shall chill with awe the icy cheeks of death. 
 
 The storm subsides ; Auroras' cheering beams 
 
 Restores the beauty of creation's face : 
 
 Now shrill the fife and martial drum are heard ; 
 
 The thoughtless mariner defies the hand. 
 
 That hurPd the dreadful thunder o'er his head ; 
 
 He heaves his anchor, bids the vessel sail, 
 
 And soon forgets the terrors of the storm. 
 
 But e'er the day has clos'd the winds arise, 
 
 A dreadful squall succeeds, loud roar the waves — 
 
 A clap of distant thunder shakes the sails. 
 
 Again the rattling hail, the boist'rous winds, 
 
 The vast concussion of the elements 
 
 Proclaim the awful prowess of a God. 
 
 — The winds again are hush'd, the clouds dis- 
 
 pers'd — 
 To the fierce storm Jehovah says *' Be still." — 
 But ah ! the frantic crew ! — the vessel sinks ! — 
 A wat'ry grave ! a distant home ! each thought 
 Akin to fear, extorts the piercing cry. 
 The clinging mates join in the dying prayer, 
 And lift an eye of terror to the arm 
 That hurl'd with dreadful force the fatal storm. 
 Then the loud shriek and bitter groan ascend.— 
 At length the funeral waves the suff Vers hide, 
 With their wreck'd vessel, in the briny deep. 
 
286 APPENDIX. 
 
 Such are the awful scenes which thy strong mind, 
 Ingenious Baker, and thy skilful hand, 
 Bring to our ravish'd and our aching sight ; 
 And such the awful works, and sovereign ways of 
 God. 
 
 Hull, July 1797. 
 
 SONNET. 
 
 TO THE DEISTS. 
 
 Written after reading the Rev. Mr. Fawcetfs 
 Summary of the Evidences of Christianity, just 
 published. 
 
 Ye bankrupt minds ! ye souls of black despair ! 
 
 In vain you trample on the sacred code, — 
 And Oh ! — of the eternal arm beware, 
 
 Nor rouse the vengeance of the Word of God.* 
 
 If ye have curs'd the sacred light of heaven, 
 
 Yet lead not others to eternal woe ; 
 Enough, if you be from its radiance driven, 
 
 And walk in darkness to the shades below, 
 
 * Rev. xix. 13. 
 
APPENDIX. 287 
 
 A vaunt ye Paines ! and ask an angry God, 
 To give you seats in the infernal world ; 
 
 There might your doctrine meet the longing nod, 
 Though thence, in anger, you would soon be 
 hurl'd. 
 
 Parent of Good ! avert their plans, their fate ; 
 Fawcett the pray'r shall join though he obtain 
 the hate. 
 
 Sept. 29, 1797. 
 
 LIXES, 
 
 INSCRIBED TO TPIE SIEMORY OF THE LATE 
 REV. JOHN BEATSON, OF HULL. 
 
 Thou need'st not, fond Solicitude, 
 
 Amid the haunts of death intrude, » 
 
 With unavailing sighs and tears, 
 
 With pallid looks and causeless fears ; 
 
 Beatson has gain'd the port of rest, 
 
 And in eternal calm is blest. 
 
 Thou need'st not, fond remembrance, paint 
 The bright example of the saint ; 
 
2SS APPENDIX, 
 
 Friends gain'd to virtue by his zeal. 
 Shall best his genuine worth reveal ; 
 The annals of eternity. 
 Shall give the purest eulogy. 
 
 Thou need'st not, filial tenderness, 
 In words of black despair express 
 Thy loss ; thy father still survives, 
 And in a life of virtue lives : 
 Go copy each instructive line, 
 His love of God and truth be thine : 
 
 With virtue lift the hand of prayer. 
 The tear with misery learn to share : 
 Teach vice the road to happiness. 
 And bless the poor and fatherless ; 
 Assert the rights Jehovah gave. 
 Unbind the fetters of the slave ; 
 
 Bid minds be free, their shackles break, 
 Till Bigotry's foundations shake ; 
 Till truth her native smile shall wear, 
 And millions crowd her charms to share. 
 O dare, in this degenerate age. 
 To read and prize the sacred page, 
 Dare to be singularly good. 
 And strive to stem contagion's flood : 
 
APPENDIX. 289 
 
 W. 
 
 Then shall thy Father still survive. 
 And Beatson still amongst us live. 
 
 3Ia7/ 9, 1798. 
 
 ON THE DEATH OF ALEXIS. 
 
 And dost thou cling to earth, unthinking youth, 
 To 'scape the wreck of death, all nature's doom ! 
 
 Ah ! haste and read what hoary headed truth 
 Has just inscrib'd upon Alexis' tomb : — 
 
 '' Build not your pyramid, immortal friend, 
 On tott'ring sand, expos'd to every wave ; 
 
 The firmest base that time itself can lend, 
 Will sink, ere long, into the silent grave. 
 
 " List not too earnestly to friendship's tale 
 Nor grasp with extacy the Muses' prize ; 
 Long 'ere the tale of love was done — all pale, 
 
 Uncrown'd, and breathless, poor Alexis lies. 
 Yet shall the muses spread their flowers around 
 
 his tomb. 
 And all his virtues flourish in immortal bloom. 
 
 W. 
 January ^\, 1798, 
 
290 APPENDIX. 
 
 THE MOUSE'S GHOST AND THE 
 PHILOSOPHER. 
 
 Say, affrighted spectre, why 
 Dost thou hover round my bed, 
 
 Echoing back a dying cry : — 
 Go, and rest thy haggard head, 
 
 ^Tvvas no sin to take thy life, 
 Life so short and poor as thine ; 
 
 Feeble was the dying strife. 
 Breath thou hadst but to resign. 
 
 '* Wretch endu'd with nobler powers^ 
 
 Sordid tyrant of the earth. 
 Life and peace and love are ours ; 
 
 Thou art wretched from thy births 
 
 Gibbets, poisons, racks are yours; 
 
 Ye can feast on tears and blood ; 
 Death's last agony allures ; 
 
 Ye can trample on the good. 
 
 When I, unsuspecting, dar'd 
 But to taste of your repast. 
 
 And, by your deception snar'd. 
 Found myself in prison fast, 
 
APPENDIX. 291 
 
 Then you triuraph'd o'er your slave, 
 Laugh'd to see me pant with fear ; 
 
 Yet you call yourselves the brave, 
 Say, you wipe the captive's tear. 
 
 When ye dragg'd me to the cell, 
 
 And withheld the vital air, 
 Then like fiends and sprites of hell, 
 
 Ye drown'd in shouts my dying prayer. 
 
 When ye saw me gasp for breath. 
 Shrink with horror at your sight ; 
 
 Then ye join'd the howl of decth,— 
 And I sought eternal night. 
 
 Now I'll break your sweet repose. 
 Haunt your bed and keep you 'wake ; 
 
 You shall ne'er your eyelids close. 
 But before a mouse shall quake. 
 
 February 27, 1798. 
 
 o 2 
 
292 APPENDIX. 
 
 SONNET, 
 
 Inscribed to Miss **** on her birth'day. 
 
 Hail, sacred morn ! prolong thy stay ! 
 Thy gentle dew and holy breath 
 Shall save the faulting plants from death, 
 
 And bid all nature hail Matilda's natal day. 
 
 Ye flowers your richest tints display, 
 
 Your fragrance spread through every grove, 
 Ye birds attune the song to love. 
 
 And bid all nature hail Matilda's natal day. 
 
 Ye angry storms your rage delay. 
 
 Nature commands a day of rest ; 
 
 Be calm as Pastorella's breast. 
 While zephyrs whisper, " 'tis Matilda's natal day." 
 
 LINES 
 
 TO THE MEMORY OF MR. GRANT, BAPTIST 
 MISSIONARY, 
 
 Who died at Serampore on the Qlst, of October, 
 1799^ in the 25th year of his age, and soon after 
 his arrival in India. 
 Bold in the rank of fools Horatio stands, 
 
 And madly 'gainst his God lifts both his hands. 
 
APPENDIX 293 
 
 Sits with the Deist in the scorner's chair, 
 Derides the book of God, and laughs at pray'r. 
 While on he rushes in his mad career, 
 The voice of mercy whispers in his ear — 
 " Rash youth ! forbear to urge th' unequal war, 
 Or God shall smite thee from his fiery car. 
 His voice demands the reason of thy rage : 
 Why 'gainst thy God and Father thus engage ! 
 Midst oaths and blasphemies his tender care 
 Ne'er cease thy life to guard, thy soul to spare 1 
 And when thy feet have touch'd the brink of hell, 
 How many times he saved thee, canst thou tell ? 
 Oh turn thine eyes, behold the Lamb of God ! 
 And hear the accents of redeeming blood. 
 This scene, which fools and infidels blaspheme, 
 Must hence become thy sweet and constant theme; 
 Now to thy former friends this news be shown. 
 Then haste, and follow me to worlds unknown!'* 
 
 The tale of mercy fili'd his anxious mind; 
 If true, how vile was he, and God how kind ! 
 He reads the sacred page ; the scenes renew'd, — 
 The words that mercy spake are there reviewed. 
 No longer now he doubts the word of God, 
 Nor madly tramples on the Saviour's blood ; 
 He feels the power and majesty divine. 
 Which shine in ev'ry page, in ev'ry line; 
 
294 APPENDIX. 
 
 Wonders, he ne'er beheld the scene beforep 
 And longs to bear the news to ev'ry shore. 
 
 To prove the change divine, his pray'r is heard ; 
 To India's shores he bears the heavenly word : 
 Jesus accepts the soul his grace has won ; 
 On India's plains arriv'd, his work is done ; 
 Content, the way to heathen lands is shewn. 
 He follows mercy to the world unknown. 
 
 W. W, 
 
^ MonotfV 
 
 TO THE 
 
 MEMORY OF THE LATE REV. W. WARD, 
 
 — — Monumentum sere perennius. Hot. 
 
 Shall blood-stained heroes claim immortal 
 verse. 
 And nations' tears bedew the patriot's hearse ? 
 Shall sculptur'd trophies o'er the great be spread, 
 And poets throng to praise the noble dead? 
 And shall no meed be due to him, who strove, 
 Impeird by principles of heav'nly love, 
 The slaves of Satan from their bonds to save, 
 To point the wretch; just sinking in the grave. 
 To heav'n's eternal rest ; undaunted yet 
 IBy all the dangers, that his path beset ; 
 Unsway'd by honour, unallur'd by gain 
 Oross'd the rough billows of the stormy main, 
 Far other climes and distant regions sought, 
 Friends, country, kindred, sweets of home forgot? 
 Twas pity mov'd — 'twas charity inspir'd, 
 Love to a gracious Lord his bosom fired ; 
 
296 APPE^JDIX. 
 
 This, the mail! spring, that all his passions moved, 
 And those, the generous fruits, his faith that 
 
 prov'd 
 And love sincere ;— yes, and when love shall hold 
 Its empire undivided, uncontroul'd, 
 A ransom'd world its triumph and its joy. 
 While countless tongues its praises shall employ: 
 Then shall the name of Ward, and all like him, 
 Shine as a kindred star 'midst the bright seraphim. 
 
 Where Ganges pours his mighty tide along 
 Thro' India's plains, the swarthy nations throng, 
 To bathe and bow idolatrous before 
 The river God ; the gayping sick implore. 
 Stretch'd on its banks, the next kind wave that 
 
 rolls, 
 To ease their pain and manumit their souls ; 
 And hope thus purified from sin to rise, 
 And gain a seat of bliss in Paradise : 
 There, whirl'd aloft in many a circling round, 
 The self- tormentor hangs, while on the ground 
 The crimson gore distils ; here on the glade, 
 Swelt'ring before his fire, is prostrate laid 
 The Hindoo devotee ; and there, v/ith hands 
 Cross'd o'er, his head, the musing Fakeer stands, 
 Or on his tyger's skin sits all exposed 
 To burning suns, and, when the day is closed, 
 
APPENDIX. 297 
 
 To night's keen blast ; idly he hopes the while, 
 Pleas'd with his penances that Heav'n will smile. 
 As thro' the crowd the haughty Brahmin stalks. 
 Fell death around in gloomy terror walks ; 
 Vain hope and sad despair by turns impress'd ; 
 But hope still yields to fear, and ev'ry breast 
 With torture heaves; each eye, with tearless grief, 
 Looks wildly round and vainly asks relief. 
 
 And lo ! relief is nigh, the hour is come, 
 Ordain'd of God, to call his wand'rers home. 
 With ready zeal the sacred preacher flies. 
 Love in his heart, compassion in his eyes. 
 Unfolds the holy Shaster to their sight. 
 And points the sinking soul to mansions bright 
 Beyond the skies ; tells of the dreadful loss 
 Of souls immortal, and proclaims the cross, 
 The sov'reign remedy, by grace designed 
 To heal the various ills of htiman kind. 
 ^' Behold the blood, the Saviour's blood," he crieSj 
 " For guilty souls the w^ondrous sacrifice; 
 *' See, for uncleanness open'd Israel's fount ; 
 " The stream fast issuing from the holy mount, 
 ^* To cleanse your foulest stains the Saviour dik';', 
 ** And rising opes a vista to the skies ; 
 " He traced the path, by mortals yet untrod, 
 ** Thro' death's dark vailev to the realms of God ; 
 
298 APPENDIX. 
 
 " Captivity itself was captive led, 
 '* When Jesus rose triumphant from the dead ; 
 " He the first fruits, and soon shall all that sleep 
 " In earth, or caverns of th' unfathom'd deep, 
 " To meet him rise. Hear, sinners, and believe, 
 " Trust in the Saviour and true life receive ; 
 " In faith address his mercy and his power, 
 '* His grace shall save you in the dying hour. 
 " Not Ganga's wave of fabled heav'nly source, 
 ** Nor all the streams, that swell it in its course, 
 " Can cleanse like this : not Veeshno's potent arm, 
 " That crush'd the serpent, can stern Death disarm, 
 *' Can break of Hell the adamantine chain, 
 '* And give your souls to peace and God again : 
 " Not all his nine avaters e'er achieved, 
 " One sin aton'd, one suffering soul reliev'd ; 
 ** But our incarnate Saviour did, alone, 
 '* For sins of deepest dye at once atone : 
 '* Then venture on Him freely, none but He 
 ** Can helpless sinners from their bondage free." 
 
 Quick thro' the ranks the joyful tidings run ; 
 And now, for shelter from the scorching sun. 
 Beneath the Banian's thickest shade they meet, 
 In numerous bands, to enjoy the cool retreat: 
 Some list attentive, others wond'ring stand 
 At this strange doctrine struck ; on either hand 
 
APPENDIX. ^9 
 
 The Brahmin proudly scowls to hear decried 
 His fav'rite Gods, to see their power defied : 
 Yet trusts, that still the mighty cast will bind 
 The troubled conscience and the wav'ring mind 
 In its strong chain ; nor dreams he, that the slave 
 Of superstition's power will ever brave, 
 Bereft of kindred and of friends., forlorn, 
 The shafts of ridicule and public scorn ; 
 Sunk to the vile, degraded Paria's state. 
 The sport of poverty, disgrace and hate. 
 But now from heaven, th' immortal Dove descends, 
 And sacred energy the word attends; 
 A^ain is the cast's strong chain, all oarthly bands 
 To hold the soul are vain ! when grace commands 
 To set the captive free, how vain each art, 
 In God's decisive hour, t' enchain the heart ! 
 Weak as the twisted bands, that Sampson held, 
 When proud Philistia's lords their foe beheld, 
 Their dreaded foe, his sinewy limbs fast bound. 
 And made the welkin with their shouts resound ; 
 Snapp'd like the scorched tow, his bands remove, 
 And slaughter'd hecatombs his prowess prove. 
 But different triumphs wait the christian host; 
 Far other trophies. Ward, shall be thy boast; 
 A bloodless, tearless triumph thou shalt share, 
 A purer palm of victory thou shalt bear : 
 'Tis thine to sing the captive soul's release, 
 And shout the honours of the Prince of Peace; 
 
300 APPENDIX. 
 
 At his approach, the cast's firm chain shall yieldi" 
 And all th' infernal powers shall quit the field. 
 Driven like the chaff before the whirlwind's 
 
 blast; 
 Then heathen tribes their idol gods shall cast 
 To raoles and bats ; and Zion's glorious King 
 Ascend his throne, while heaven's high arch 
 
 shall ring 
 With shouts of angels bright and spirits blest, 
 From suff 'rings saved that now in glory rest: 
 And men redeem'd from sin, and death, and hell^ 
 Of ev'ry nation, shall the chorus swell, 
 O'er the whole earth, the Saviour's wide domain^ 
 And ** He, whose right it is, shall ever reign.'" 
 
 Deep in his lair the pagan dragon lay. 
 Secure, and watching for his future prey ; 
 Porgot the dire disgrace, when Grecia broke. 
 And Rome, the bondage of his tyrant yoke ; 
 When all his rabble gods and demon powers 
 Forsook fair Corinth, and th' Athenian bowers : 
 Kous'd at this new alarm the monster's fire. 
 He rears his crest, and grins indignant ire ; 
 Sees, all around, his spells dissolving fast, 
 His fanes deserted, and his idols cast 
 To dark and cold neglect ; nor safe his seat,, 
 invasion threats him in his last retreat : 
 
APPENDIX. 301 
 
 Ko more his poor deluded vot'ries now, 
 With stupid rev'rence at his altars bow ; 
 No more the pilgrim penitents incline, 
 With painful steps, to visit at his shrine : 
 The blood of Christ, a healing fountain, fiows, 
 A sov'reign balm for all the sufF'rers' woes ; 
 His mercy now see India's sons implore. 
 And Brahmin priests his sacred name adore. 
 
 See, where in yon savannah rear'd on high, 
 With numerous faggots heap'd, that tempt the sky. 
 The funeral pile ascends ; extended there, 
 Beside her husband's livid corse, to share 
 Its fiery fate, and thus her doom to seal 
 By foul self-murder, and unhallowed zeal, 
 The mourning widow lies ; sees round her head 
 The curling smoke ascend with secret dread: 
 Not all the tales deceiving priests have told. 
 From sacred vedas, and from records old, 
 Of bliss eternal that awaits her soul. 
 The throbbings of her heart can e'er controul : 
 Can e'er a mother's tender bosom steel 
 'Gainst that sharp pang of anguish she must i^f-h 
 To think, amidst her woes, that urchin boy, 
 So late his father's pride, her only joy. 
 With parricidal hand has li't the fire. 
 And gladly sees his last, best friend expire : 
 
302 APPENDIX. 
 
 She feels, she weeps, and now, repenting late 
 
 Her rash devotion, struggles with her fate; 
 
 But tears, and prayers, and stragglings all in 
 
 vain, 
 No mortal hears the trembling wretch complain ; 
 In loud, inhuman shouts her cries are lost, 
 Or on the mounting flame to heaven are tossed ; 
 Nought but a mass of living fire is seen, 
 And crackling faggots blazing o'er the green. 
 Enthron'd in crimes, in murd'rous rites enshrin'd, 
 Forging fresh fetters for th' immortal mind, 
 Thus has the demon rul'd ; but now his reign 
 Hastes to its close ; his glory's in the wane. 
 Saviour Divine, thy sov'reign sway extend 
 Wide o'er the earth, till ev'ry knee shall bend; 
 Bid cruel deeds, and foul self-murder cease. 
 And hush the tumults of the world to peace. 
 
 Mark, where, in gorgeous pomp, with thund'ring 
 sound, 
 A pond'rous mass, that shakes the solid ground, 
 The car of Juggernaut comes rolling on ; 
 Idol obscene, by filthy homage won. 
 And erst with bloody sacrifices pleas'd. 
 What strange surprize his hireling slaves has 
 
 seiz'd! 
 No heart the flame of self-devotion feels; 
 No victim bleeds beneath his chariot wheels, 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 Crush'd by the mighty weight : amazVl they try 
 
 New arts t' allure ; not one will dare to die 
 
 For such a God ! * Those pow'rless hands, shall 
 
 they 
 The rod of universal empire sway ? 
 Think'st thou those sightless eyeballs e'er can scan 
 The secrets of thy heart, misguided man ? 
 Not all thy loudest, longest prayers shall gain 
 That dull, cold ear ; lift up thy voice amain ; 
 Sure he's a God, or does his Godship sleep, 
 Or urge his journey through the mighty deep? 
 Cry, cry aloud, nor spare, ye brave compeers 
 Of bloody Moloch's priests, and Baal's seers ! 
 In vain, your reign is o'er; forth from his place 
 Jehovah rising, glorious King of grace, 
 Comes to assert his honours, long profan'd, 
 To vindicate his sacred worship, stain'd 
 By many a base and antichristian rite, 
 Through the dark ages of that moral nighty 
 In which the Man of Sin enwrapp'd the world. 
 Now is the banner of His cross unfurl'd. 
 The day of His redeem'd is come, tho day, 
 The long arrears of vengeance to repay : 
 Gentile and Jew shall join, with one accord, 
 To sound his triumphs, and to hail Him Lord : 
 Then shall He reign omnipotent on high, 
 And hallelujahs sound from earth and rhy ; 
 
304 APPENDIX. 
 
 While wide and deep the tide of knowledge flows 
 O'er regions, where the fervid sunbeam glows 
 Intense, from Southern sea-girt isles, 
 Where genial spring in constant verdure smiles, 
 To Greenland's shores, where sternest winter 
 
 reigns, 
 And locks all nature in her icy chains. 
 
 These were the scenes, dear Ward, that fir'd 
 thy soul 
 With ardent zeal no dangers could controul ; 
 These radiant visions of the latter days 
 Urg'd all thy labour, called forth all thy praise ; 
 These scenes to realize, what fervent prayer 
 Thy spirit breatlvd ; those bright rewards to share, 
 A deathless palm of victory to win 
 In souls subdued by grace, and conquer'd sin ! 
 But ah ! how soon thy glorious course is run ; 
 How soon we're called to mourn thy setting sun ; 
 When scarce had dawn'd upon thy eager view 
 The heav'niy prospects, which thy fancy drew I 
 Too soon, alas ! for us, who mark'd thy course. 
 Thy spirit's ardour, that elastic force 
 Of hope, that sprang so buoyant on the wave 
 Of threat'ning woes, while all intent to save I 
 Nor lost is all thy toil, thy active mind 
 Has left a lasting monument behind, 
 
APPENDIX. 305 
 
 Than stone more durable, or solid brass ; 
 It lives, while this vain world's brief ages pass. 
 While rising suns and setting gild the plain 
 Successive, till no point of time remain ; 
 Bears on its front, engrav'd in deep record, 
 The wondrous tidings of the living VYord ; 
 Stands till the light of truth shall brightly shine , 
 Its lustre all unclouded and divine ; 
 When darkling error, dazzled with the bluze, 
 Shall shrink abashed, and hide its hideous forrr;. 
 Nor bide the terrors of th' approaching storm, 
 When Satan's routed hosts, those demons fell, 
 In dire dismay, retrace their native hell : 
 When the wide heaven is folded like a scroll, 
 And fiercest light'nings flash from pole to pole, 
 While all around continuous thunders roll ; 
 When from dissolving elements shall rise 
 New heavens and earth, and purer, brighter skie.<. 
 Where, in their blest abodes, from ev'ry climt, 
 The ransom'd throng shall meet, of ev'ry tim< , 
 And age, and name, fresh rising from the tomb. 
 Clad in full vigour and immortal bloom : 
 When those whose labours Jesus deigns to bless, 
 In turning numerous souls to righteonsness. 
 Shall shine as stars— then, Ward, thy naMn 
 
 shall be, 
 A gem of ray serene in heav'u's pure galaxy. 
 
SUBSCRIBERS, 
 
 Anderson, Mr. W. St. Martins-le-Grand. (4 copies.) 
 Andrews, Mr. Berkeley Street, Clerkenwell, 
 Angus, Mrs. Newcastle upon Tyne, (2 copies.) 
 
 Bancroft, Mrs. Chelsea. 
 
 Bateman, Mrs. A. Liverpool. 
 
 Bayne, Mr. Beikeley Street, Clerkenwell. 
 
 Bell, Mr. Maryport, Cumberland. 
 
 Bignold, T. Esq. Jun. Norwich, (6 copies.) 
 
 Blackburn, Rev. S. Old Street Road, (2 copies.) 
 
 Blackwell, Mr. S. Bristol. 
 
 Bosworth, Mr. Newton, Tower Street. 
 
 Bridget, H. T. Esq. Derby. 
 
 Brown, Mrs. St. Mary's Hill. 
 
 Brown, Mrs. Goswell Street. 
 
 Burton, Mr. J. Stratford. 
 
 Button, Mrs. Nayland, Essex. 
 
308 
 
 Carryer, Mr. J. Leicester. 
 
 Chalmers, Mr. Leadenhall Street. 
 
 Clark, Mr. Lambeth. 
 
 Clayton, Rev. J. Jun. Devonshh'e Square. 
 
 Cook, Rev. Mr. Oswestry, Shropshire. 
 
 Cort, J. Esq. Leicester. 
 
 Coward, J. Esq. 
 
 Crathern, Mrs. Nayland, Essex. 
 
 Crickmore, Mr. T. Skinner Street, Bishopsgate. 
 
 dimming, Mr. Spitalfields. 
 
 Curtis, Rev. T. 
 
 -Derry, D. Esq. Jun. Plymouth. 
 Dickie, Mr. James, Old Jewry. 
 Doughty, A. Esq. Bengal. 
 Dove, Mr. Bristol. 
 Drummond, H. Esq. Albury, Surry. 
 Duncan, Mr. J, Whitehaven. 
 
 Evans, Mr. Wood Street, (2 copies.) 
 
 Evans, Mr. Shrewsbury. 
 
 Ebury, Miss, Mile-end. 
 
 Farr, Miss, Colebrook Row, Islington. 
 
 Fell, Mr. James, Maryport. 
 
 Ferguson, Mr. Westmoreland Place, City Road. 
 
309 
 
 Fletcher, Rev. J. A.M. Mile End. 
 Foster, Miss, Commercial lload. 
 Friend, by Mrs. Smich. 
 
 Gibson, W. Esq. Liverpool, (4 copies..; 
 
 Gordon, J. F. Esq. Edinburgh, (4 copies.) 
 
 Greaves, Mr. Clapham. 
 Green, Mrs. White Horse Street, Stepney. 
 Greenwood, G. Esq. and friends, Hull, (12 copies.) 
 Grieves, Mr. Poplar. 
 
 Haldaue, A. Esq. Lincoln's-inn-fields. 
 
 Hawes, Mr. Ratcliff. 
 
 Hawley, Mrs. Shrev/sbury. 
 
 Hay ton, Mrs. M. Mary port. 
 
 Henry, Mr. Bermondsey. 
 
 Hine, Mr. D. Wood Street. 
 
 Hine, Mr. J. Nottingham. 
 
 Hine, Mr. J. Maryport. 
 
 Hodson, Miss J. do. 
 
 Holbrooke, Miss, Oswestry, Shropshire. 
 
 HoUiday, Mr. J. near Maryport. 
 
 Holliday, Mr. Jonathan, do. 
 
 Hope, S. Esq. Liverpool, (tj copies.) 
 
 Hutchinson, Mr. J. do. (2 copies.) 
 
 Ivimey, Rev. J. Harpur Street. 
 Ibotson, Mr. T. Savoy Street, Strand. 
 
.310 
 
 Kitchin, Mr. C. Maryport. 
 
 Leach, Mrs. Maryport. 
 Lee, Roger, Esq. Clapham. 
 Little, Mr. E. Liverpool. 
 
 Macintosh, Mr. Great New Street, (2 copies.) 
 
 M'Gowan, Mr. W. Whitehaven. 
 
 M*Minu, Mr. Commercial Road. 
 
 Miley, Mr. M. Warwick Street, Soho. 
 
 Minnett, Mr. Oswestry, Shropshire. 
 
 Morris, Mr. J. Bungay. 
 
 Muddiraan, Mr. W. 
 
 Neave, Mr. Portsmouth, (6 copies.) 
 
 Do. friends, do. (6 copies.) 
 
 Nelson, Mr. J. Whitehaven. 
 
 Overton, Mr. T. Artist, New Bond Street 
 
 Pattison, Mr. Hoxton. 
 Pope, Mr. H. Manchester. 
 Prior, Mr. G. Enfield Highway. 
 
 Rait, Mr. Red Lion Street, ClerkenvvelL 
 Rentoul, Mr. Maryport. 
 
311 
 
 Rimmer, Mr. R. Liverpool. 
 
 Roberts, Mr. J. Oswestry, Shropshire. 
 
 Rowaud, Mr. C. Vauxhall. 
 
 Satchell, Mr. River Terrace. 
 
 Saffery, Rev. P. J. Eye, Suffolk. 
 
 Saunders, Rev. Mr. Mile-end, 
 
 Scott, J. Esq. Lower Street, Islington, (2 copies.) 
 
 Simpson, Rev. W. W. 
 
 Sloper, Rev. N. E. 
 
 Smith, Mrs. Peckham. 
 
 Smith, J\ Esq. Liverpool. 
 
 Stennett, Misses, Paternoster Row. 
 
 Stennett, Mr. J. Kirby Street, (2 copies.) 
 
 Stennett, Mr. E. Milk Street. 
 
 Stuart, C. Esq. M.D. Edinburgh, (4 copies.) 
 
 Tickle, Mr. Maryport. 
 Timms, Mr. G. Aldermanbury. 
 
 Webb, Mr. Stroud, Gloucestershire. 
 
 West, Rev. E. Chenies, Bucks. 
 
 Whitby, ^ Esq. Brixton. 
 
 Williams, J. B. Esq. Shrewsbury. 
 
 Williamson, Mr. R. Bow Lane. 
 
 Wilkinson, Mrs. Bishop Burton, Hull, (3 copies.) 
 
312 
 
 Winder, Miss M. Dearham, Cumberland. 
 
 Winning, Mr. James, Biinhill Row. 
 
 W^ise, Mr. R. Clifton Street, Finsbiiry, (4 copies.) 
 
 Wood, Mr. Cork. 
 
 Wood, Mr. Wilson, Maryport 
 
 Wood, Miss S. Do. 
 
 J. HaddoQ, Printer, Castle Street, Finsbury.. 
 
DATE DUE 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 GAYLORD 
 
 
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